Infor VISUAL System-wide User’s

Guide

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Publication Information

Release: Infor VISUAL 9.0.8

Publication date: July 8, 2022

Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Contents – 1

Contents

Chapter 1: About This Guide .........................................................................................................1–1

Prerequisite Knowledge..............................................................................................................1–1

Related Information ....................................................................................................................1–1

Chapter 2: Application Global Maintenance ................................................................................2–1

What Is Application Global Maintenance? ........................................................................................2–2

Accessing Application Global Maintenance......................................................................................2–3

Specifying General Information ........................................................................................................2–4

Specifying Scheduling Information .............................................................................................2–6

Deleting Calendar Selections ...............................................................................................2–6

Specifying Calendar Exceptions...........................................................................................2–7

Deleting Calendar Exceptions ..............................................................................................2–7

Specifying Default Information..........................................................................................................2–8

Specifying System-wide Codes ......................................................................................................2–11

Working with Table Maintenance .............................................................................................2–11

Entering Information into Code Tables...............................................................................2–11

Specifying FOB Point Codes in a Multi-site Database .......................................................2–12

Specifying User Dimensions...............................................................................................2–12

Deleting Information from Code Tables..............................................................................2–13

Working with Reasons Maintenance ........................................................................................2–13

Entering Information Into Reason Tables...........................................................................2–14

Deleting Information From Reason Tables.........................................................................2–14

Working With Accounting Maintenance....................................................................................2–14

Entering Information Into the Department Maintenance Table...........................................2–14

Specifying User Dimensions...............................................................................................2–15

Deleting Information From the Department Maintenance Table.........................................2–15

Entering Information into the Terms Table ...............................................................................2–16

Discontinuing Use of a Term ..............................................................................................2–18

Deleting Terms ...................................................................................................................2–18

Specifying Customer Order Acknowledgment Codes ..............................................................2–19

Deleting Customer Order Acknowledgment Codes............................................................2–19

Entering Harmonization Codes.................................................................................................2–19

Contents

2 – Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Deleting Harmonization Codes...........................................................................................2–20

Entering National Motor Freight Codes ....................................................................................2–20

Deleting National Motor Freight Codes ..............................................................................2–21

Entering Transaction Categories ..............................................................................................2–21

Deleting Transaction Categories ........................................................................................2–21

Specifying Workflow Codes......................................................................................................2–22

Bid Rate Maintenance ..............................................................................................................2–22

Creating Bid Rate Categories.............................................................................................2–22

Creating Bid Rate Groups ..................................................................................................2–22

Adding Bid Rate Categories to Bid Rate Groups................................................................2–23

Entering Packaging Type Codes ..............................................................................................2–23

Deleting Packaging Type Codes ........................................................................................2–23

Entering Carriers ......................................................................................................................2–24

Deleting Carrier Codes.......................................................................................................2–24

Specifying Other Default Information..............................................................................................2–25

Specifying a Default Sign In Profile ..........................................................................................2–25

Creating Export Formats ..........................................................................................................2–26

Creating XML Payment Export Formats.............................................................................2–27

Building Payment/XML Formats with the Context Menu..............................................2–29

Complex Expressions...................................................................................................2–29

Concatenation ..............................................................................................................2–30

Other Functions............................................................................................................2–31

Using the SQL Dialog Box............................................................................................2–31

Deleting Export Formats...............................................................................................2–31

Entering Address Layouts ........................................................................................................2–32

Deleting Address Layouts...................................................................................................2–33

Copying Address Layouts...................................................................................................2–33

Using Custom Address Layouts .........................................................................................2–34

Maintaining Revision Numbering..............................................................................................2–34

Verifying VISUAL .NET Configuration Settings ........................................................................2–35

Monitoring Reporting Service Print Jobs ..................................................................................2–36

Reviewing Reporting Service Print Job Configurations......................................................2–36

Deactivating Reporting Service Print Job Configurations...................................................2–36

Deleting Reporting Service Print Job Configurations .........................................................2–37

Setting Preferences ..................................................................................................................2–37

Chapter 3: Accounting Entity Maintenance .................................................................................3–1

What is Accounting Entity Maintenance? .........................................................................................3–2

Accessing Accounting Entity Maintenance .......................................................................................3–3

Defining Accounting Entities .............................................................................................................3–4

Specifying Information on the General Tab ................................................................................3–4

Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Contents – 3

Specifying information on the Costing tab ..................................................................................3–5

Using the VAT Tab .....................................................................................................................3–5

Specifying General VAT Information ....................................................................................3–5

Setting Up VAT Books..........................................................................................................3–6

Setting Up VAT Percentages and G/L Accounts..................................................................3–7

Specifying VAT Categories...................................................................................................3–8

Using the Intrastat Tab ...............................................................................................................3–8

Specifying Intrastat Settings.................................................................................................3–9

Specifying Additional Intrastat Report Information .............................................................3–10

Specifying ESL Information ................................................................................................3–11

Entering Intrastat Codes.....................................................................................................3–11

Specifying Country Codes............................................................................................3–12

Using the Payment Tab ............................................................................................................3–12

Using the Order Management Tab ...........................................................................................3–13

Maintaining Order Management Codes..............................................................................3–15

Specifying Priority Codes .............................................................................................3–15

Entering Customer Order Types ..................................................................................3–15

Specifying WIP/VAS IDs ..............................................................................................3–16

Entering Customer Types.............................................................................................3–16

Entering Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Codes ....................................................3–17

Specifying Part Alias Types..........................................................................................3–18

Using the Defaults Tab .............................................................................................................3–18

Specifying Task Rejection Codes.......................................................................................3–19

Chapter 4: Site Maintenance..........................................................................................................4–1

What are Sites? ................................................................................................................................4–2

Accessing Site Maintenance.............................................................................................................4–3

Creating a Site ..................................................................................................................................4–4

Specifying General Site Information ...........................................................................................4–4

Specifying Site Scheduling Information ......................................................................................4–7

Specifying Calendar Exceptions...........................................................................................4–9

Copying Global Exceptions ............................................................................................4–9

Specifying Shipment Tracking Information ...............................................................................4–10

Specifying ECN Information .....................................................................................................4–11

Entering and Deleting Maintenance Codes........................................................................4–13

Entering Maintenance Codes.......................................................................................4–13

Deleting Maintenance Codes .......................................................................................4–13

Specifying Defaults...................................................................................................................4–13

Using the APS Tab ...................................................................................................................4–17

Assigning Import File Paths................................................................................................4–17

Assigning Export File Paths................................................................................................4–18

Assigning APS Import Default IDs......................................................................................4–18

Contents

4 – Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Setting File Styles...............................................................................................................4–18

Assigning Existing Parts, Resources, Services, and Employees to Sites ......................................4–20

Adding Parts to a Site...............................................................................................................4–20

Adding Services to a Site .........................................................................................................4–20

Adding Shop Resources to a Site.............................................................................................4–21

Adding Employees to a Site .....................................................................................................4–21

Setting Service Charge Defaults.....................................................................................................4–22

Deleting Service Charge Codes .........................................................................................4–22

Chapter 5: Manufacturing Costing................................................................................................5–1

What is Costing?...............................................................................................................................5–2

Types of Manufacturing Costs....................................................................................................5–2

Setting Up Costing............................................................................................................................5–3

About Costing Methods ..............................................................................................................5–3

Considerations Before Choosing a Costing Method...................................................................5–3

Projects/A&D..................................................................................................................5–4

Landed costs ........................................................................................................................5–4

Consignment ........................................................................................................................5–4

Setting Up Standard Costing ......................................................................................................5–4

Specifying Standard Costing Options...................................................................................5–4

Specifying Standards............................................................................................................5–6

Specifying Part Standard Costs .....................................................................................5–6

Calculating Fabricated Part Cost Standards from Engineering Masters ........................5–7

Specifying Shop Resource Standard Costs ...................................................................5–8

Specifying Outside Service Standard Costs...................................................................5–9

Setting up Actual Costing .........................................................................................................5–10

Setting up Average Costing......................................................................................................5–12

Selecting a WIP Costing Method..............................................................................................5–14

Selecting a Receipt Exchange Rate Date ................................................................................5–14

Specifying a POC Revenue Recognition Method...............................................................5–15

Costs and Accounts........................................................................................................................5–18

Shop Resource Maintenance .............................................................................................5–18

Labor Costs..................................................................................................................5–18

Burden Costs................................................................................................................5–19

Part Maintenance ...............................................................................................................5–19

Other Cost Sources ..................................................................................................................5–20

Inventory Adjustments........................................................................................................5–20

Product Code G/L Interface Account Table Overrides .......................................................5–20

Accounts by Product Code...........................................................................................5–20

Account Override Sequence Summary........................................................................5–21

Manufacturing Variances....................................................................................................5–21

Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Contents – 5

Material Variance................................................................................................................5–21

Labor Variance ...................................................................................................................5–22

Burden (Overhead) Absorption...........................................................................................5–23

Manufacturing Cost ..................................................................................................................5–23

Inventory Transactions .......................................................................................................5–24

Transaction Types (Basics)..........................................................................................5–25

What is Actual and Projected Cost?...................................................................................5–27

Determining Whether Actual Cost or Projected Cost is Used ............................................5–28

Manufacturing Cost Flow Overview....................................................................................5–28

Purchase Receipts .............................................................................................................5–29

Costing Flowchart.........................................................................................................5–29

Cost Flow Procedure..........................................................................................................5–30

Costing Utilities – Running Receipt Transaction Costing (Work Order Receipts) ..............5–30

Inventory Transaction Costing............................................................................................5–31

Preparing Manufacturing Journals..................................................................................................5–33

Purchase Journals..............................................................................................................5–34

Purchase Receipt Journals.................................................................................................5–34

Work In Process (WIP) Journals ........................................................................................5–35

Finished Goods Journals....................................................................................................5–35

Finished Goods Journals in Actual WIP Costing..........................................................5–35

Finished Goods Journals in Projected WIP Costing.....................................................5–35

Costing Considerations for Finished Goods Returns ...................................................5–36

Shipments Journals............................................................................................................5–36

Shipping Journals in Projected WIP Costing................................................................5–37

Inventory Adjustment Journals (Adjust In or Out)...............................................................5–37

Indirect Labor Journals.......................................................................................................5–37

Example Postings for Journals...........................................................................................5–38

Purchase Receipt Journals ..........................................................................................5–38

Work Order Journals ....................................................................................................5–38

Finished Goods Receipts Journals...............................................................................5–38

Sales (Shipments) Journals .........................................................................................5–39

Inventory Adjustment Journals.....................................................................................5–39

Indirect Labor Journals.................................................................................................5–39

Reporting Invoices Charged Directly to Work Orders.........................................................5–39

Manually Running Costing in the Costing Utilities Window ......................................................5–40

Running Costing Utilities ....................................................................................................5–41

Running Costing with the Costing Service ...............................................................................5–42

Preparing Manufacturing Journals Using the Costing Service ...........................................5–42

Installing the Costing Service .............................................................................................5–43

Scheduling the Costing Service..........................................................................................5–44

Deactivating the Costing Service Schedule for a Site ........................................................5–46

Deleting the Costing Service Schedule for a Site...............................................................5–46

Contents

6 – Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Removing the Costing Service ...........................................................................................5–46

WIP / Costing – Table Related Discussion...............................................................................5–47

Multi-Currency in Costing .........................................................................................................5–49

Cost Movements.................................................................................................................5–50

Inventory Valuation.............................................................................................................5–50

FIFO Layers from Purchases .............................................................................................5–50

FIFO Layers from Issue Returns..................................................................................5–51

FIFO Layers from Receipts and/or Adjust-In................................................................5–51

Multi-Currency System Cost Flow ............................................................................................5–51

Inventory Transactions .......................................................................................................5–51

Basic Transaction Types ....................................................................................................5–52

P/O Receipts ................................................................................................................5–52

Services........................................................................................................................5–52

Inventory Issue / Issue Returns....................................................................................5–52

Accounts Payable.........................................................................................................5–53

Warehouse Transfers...................................................................................................5–53

Inventory Adjustments In / Out.....................................................................................5–53

Direct Labor / Burden ...................................................................................................5–53

Indirect Labor ...............................................................................................................5–54

Shipments (Sales)........................................................................................................5–54

Tracking Currency Conversion Utility .......................................................................................5–54

Adjusting Inventory Transactions .......................................................................................5–55

Adjusting General Journal Entries......................................................................................5–55

What are Costing Tools/Audits? .....................................................................................................5–56

Data Inconsistencies ..........................................................................................................5–56

Costing Tools/Audit Overview ..................................................................................................5–57

Costing Tools............................................................................................................................5–57

Using Costing Tools .................................................................................................................5–58

Printing Costing Reports...........................................................................................................5–60

Printing Cost of Goods Sold Analysis Reports ...................................................................5–60

Printing Cost Distribution Analysis Reports........................................................................5–62

Printing P/O Accrual Analysis Reports ...............................................................................5–62

Printing Journal Preparation Analysis Reports...................................................................5–63

Printing FIFO Analysis Reports ..........................................................................................5–63

Recalculating Balances & Costs...............................................................................................5–64

Recalculating Distributions .................................................................................................5–64

Recalculating Standard Costs ............................................................................................5–65

Exporting the Recalculate Standard Costs table to Microsoft Excel ............................5–66

Recalculating Inventory Balances or WIP Balances...........................................................5–66

Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Contents – 7

Chapter 6: Document Maintenance...............................................................................................6–1

What is Document Maintenance?.....................................................................................................6–2

Planning Document Storage.......................................................................................................6–2

Referencing Documents at the Tenant-level and the Site-level .................................................6–3

Opening the Document Maintenance Window .................................................................................6–4

Setting Up Document Categories ...............................................................................................6–4

Maintaining Document Folders .........................................................................................................6–5

Maintaining Default Reference Types...............................................................................................6–6

Adding Documents ...........................................................................................................................6–9

Adding a Document ....................................................................................................................6–9

Setting Allowable Sites for Tenant Documents ........................................................................6–10

Editing Document References..................................................................................................6–11

Viewing Where Documents are Used.......................................................................................6–11

Deleting Document References................................................................................................6–11

Copying and Moving Documents....................................................................................................6–13

Printing Document Listings .............................................................................................................6–14

Referencing Documents .................................................................................................................6–15

Referencing Existing Documents .............................................................................................6–17

Manually Inserting a New Document in the Document Reference Dialog................................6–19

Using Drag-and-Drop to Associate Documents........................................................................6–20

Creating Document References in Maintenance Windows ......................................................6–21

Dragging and Dropping Documents onto Maintenance Windows......................................6–21

Viewing Attached Documents...................................................................................................6–22

Chapter 7: Message Maintenance .................................................................................................7–1

What is Message Maintenance?.......................................................................................................7–2

Setting Events ............................................................................................................................7–2

Event Samples .....................................................................................................................7–5

Creating a Message with Database Information ............................................................7–5

Creating Deadline Recurring Events..............................................................................7–5

Setting Event Detection Preferences..........................................................................................7–6

Processing Events......................................................................................................................7–7

Manually Processing Events ................................................................................................7–7

Fixing Query Error Events ....................................................................................................7–7

Chapter 8: Employees and Buyers ...............................................................................................8–1

What is Employee Maintenance? .....................................................................................................8–2

Starting Employee Maintenance.......................................................................................................8–3

Defining Codes and Shifts ................................................................................................................8–4

Defining Earning Codes..............................................................................................................8–4

Deleting Earning Codes........................................................................................................8–4

Contents

8 – Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Defining Indirect Codes ..............................................................................................................8–4

Deleting Indirect Codes ........................................................................................................8–5

Copying Indirect Code Information ......................................................................................8–5

Defining Shifts ............................................................................................................................8–5

Creating Employee Records.............................................................................................................8–8

Adding a Picture .........................................................................................................................8–9

Displaying the Picture in the Employee Maintenance Window.............................................8–9

Editing Employee Information.....................................................................................................8–9

Deleting Employee Information ................................................................................................8–10

Assigning Employees to Sites ........................................................................................................8–11

Assigning User Dimensions to Employees .....................................................................................8–12

Printing Employee Information........................................................................................................8–13

Buyer Maintenance.........................................................................................................................8–14

Deleting a Buyer ID ..................................................................................................................8–14

Specifying User Dimensions.....................................................................................................8–14

Chapter 9: Workflow.......................................................................................................................9–1

What is Workflow? ............................................................................................................................9–2

Preliminary Requirements ..........................................................................................................9–2

Workflow and Double-byte Characters.......................................................................................9–3

Starting Workflow..............................................................................................................................9–4

Creating a New Workflow Template ...........................................................................................9–4

Opening an Existing Workflow Template....................................................................................9–5

Understanding Workflow Components .............................................................................................9–6

Menu Bar ....................................................................................................................................9–6

File Menu..............................................................................................................................9–6

Edit Menu .............................................................................................................................9–7

View Menu............................................................................................................................9–7

Help Menu ............................................................................................................................9–8

Using the Main Toolbar ..............................................................................................................9–8

Using the Vertical Toolbar ..........................................................................................................9–9

Using the Status Area...............................................................................................................9–10

Using the Work Area ................................................................................................................9–10

Adding Objects to the Work Area .......................................................................................9–10

Deleting Objects from the Work Area.................................................................................9–10

Rotating Objects in the Work Area .....................................................................................9–10

Moving Objects in the Work Area.......................................................................................9–11

Selecting Multiple Objects in the Work Area ......................................................................9–11

Resizing Objects in the Work Area.....................................................................................9–11

Aligning Objects in the Work Area......................................................................................9–11

Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Contents – 9

Making Multiple Objects the Same Size.............................................................................9–12

Changing the Text Font Size..............................................................................................9–12

Changing the View Setting .................................................................................................9–12

Adding Rule Lines to the Work Area ..................................................................................9–12

Adding Control Points to Rule Lines...................................................................................9–13

Converting Lines to Curves ................................................................................................9–13

Deleting Control Points.......................................................................................................9–13

Using the Dotted Box..........................................................................................................9–13

Printing the Work Area .......................................................................................................9–14

Using the Print Details Menu..............................................................................................9–14

Exporting Workflows.................................................................................................................9–14

Importing Workflows .................................................................................................................9–15

Using Right-click Menus ...........................................................................................................9–15

Building Workflow Templates .........................................................................................................9–17

Working with Steps .........................................................................................................................9–18

Adding Properties to a Step................................................................................................9–18

Referencing Documents.....................................................................................................9–20

Viewing Status Information.......................................................................................................9–21

Deleting Steps ..........................................................................................................................9–21

Working with Rules .........................................................................................................................9–22

Adding Rule Properties.............................................................................................................9–22

Working with Evaluation Sequences ........................................................................................9–23

Working with Tasks ..................................................................................................................9–23

Deleting Users from Task Lists ....................................................................................9–24

Workflow and Outlook Tasks........................................................................................9–24

Working with Authorizations .....................................................................................................9–24

Working with Statements ................................................................................................................9–26

Using the Workflow Rule Table ................................................................................................9–28

Creating a Workflow Rule/Step Label Statement ...............................................................9–28

Creating a Workflow Rule/Step Status Statement..............................................................9–28

Creating a Workflow Step Time Started Statement............................................................9–29

Creating a Workflow Step Time Last Notified Statement ...................................................9–29

Creating a Workflow Rule Time Complete Statement........................................................9–30

Viewing Workflow Status Codes...............................................................................................9–30

Opening the Workflow Status Codes Window....................................................................9–30

Changing Status Text Language........................................................................................9–31

Selecting Workflow Preferences.....................................................................................................9–32

Logging Workflow Timer Events .....................................................................................................9–33

Using the Workflow Tracker............................................................................................................9–34

Opening Workflow Tracker .......................................................................................................9–34

Contents

10 – Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Understanding Color Codes in Workflow Tracker.....................................................................9–34

Viewing Rule Status Information ..............................................................................................9–35

Viewing Step Status Information ..............................................................................................9–35

Marking a Step Done................................................................................................................9–35

Marking a Step Undone............................................................................................................9–36

Printing a Workflow Tracker Diagram.......................................................................................9–36

Using the Workflow Gatekeeper .....................................................................................................9–37

Chapter 10: Allocation Utilities....................................................................................................10–1

What is the Allocation Utility? .........................................................................................................10–2

Allocation Processing ...............................................................................................................10–2

De-allocation.......................................................................................................................10–2

Sequencing ........................................................................................................................10–2

Behind the Scenes of the Allocation Process...........................................................................10–3

Setting Up and Running the Allocation Utility ...........................................................................10–3

Understanding Allocation..........................................................................................................10–4

Chapter 11: Data Interchange......................................................................................................11–1

What is Data Interchange? .............................................................................................................11–2

What is EDI?.............................................................................................................................11–2

What is Electronic Commerce? ................................................................................................11–2

What is Integration?..................................................................................................................11–3

Integration Requirements ...................................................................................................11–3

EDI Requirements ....................................................................................................................11–3

Starting the Generate the Data Import Layouts Window ................................................................11–5

Inbound & Outbound Layout Process Overview.......................................................................11–5

Inbound Layout...................................................................................................................11–5

Outbound Layout................................................................................................................11–5

Considerations Before Creating Data Imports Layouts ............................................................11–5

Accessing Layouts..............................................................................................................11–6

File Types...........................................................................................................................11–6

Record and File Naming.....................................................................................................11–6

Tab Access.........................................................................................................................11–6

File Styles...........................................................................................................................11–6

Fixed File Style.............................................................................................................11–6

Fixed Style and Newline...............................................................................................11–7

Delimited File Style.......................................................................................................11–7

Accessibility to Buttons and Boxes.....................................................................................11–7

Accessibility to Options Menu Choices...............................................................................11–7

Mandatory Fields................................................................................................................11–8

Hidden Fields......................................................................................................................11–8

Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Contents – 11

Default Layouts...................................................................................................................11–8

Using the Generate Data Import Layouts Window ...................................................................11–8

Creating ACK Layouts (Customer Acknowledgements).....................................................11–8

Creating ASN Layouts......................................................................................................11–10

Creating CPO Layouts in VMDIGEN................................................................................11–11

Creating CSH Layouts......................................................................................................11–14

Creating INV Layouts .......................................................................................................11–15

Creating PLN Layouts ......................................................................................................11–16

Creating RCA Layouts......................................................................................................11–17

Creating VPO Layouts......................................................................................................11–18

Creating WSA Layouts .....................................................................................................11–18

Defining Record Layouts ..................................................................................................11–19

Joining Tables ..................................................................................................................11–21

Associating Customers to Outbound Layouts ..................................................................11–22

Printing Length Discrepancies..........................................................................................11–22

Flushing Temporary Cash Tables ....................................................................................11–23

Starting the Data Import Exchange Window.................................................................................11–24

Importing and Exporting Data In the Data Import Exchange Window ....................................11–24

Examining Log Files After Importing and Exporting .........................................................11–25

Error Logs...................................................................................................................11–25

Successful Transactions (Good) Logs .......................................................................11–27

Insert/Update Logs.....................................................................................................11–31

Autogenerate Logs.....................................................................................................11–32

Setting Session ID Preferences........................................................................................11–33

Running the Data Interchange Utility in Command Line Mode...............................................11–33

Integration Requirements .......................................................................................................11–35

Customer Order Information (Inbound) ............................................................................11–35

EDI Transaction 850 - Purchase Order ..................................................................................11–36

Planning Information (Inbound) ........................................................................................11–36

EDI Transaction 830 - Planning Schedule........................................................................11–36

Shipping Information (Outbound) .....................................................................................11–37

EDI Transaction 856 - Advance Shipment Notice ............................................................11–37

Invoice Information (Outbound)........................................................................................11–37

EDI Transaction 810 - Invoice ..........................................................................................11–37

A Glossary of EDI Terms........................................................................................................11–38

ANSI X12 EDI Transaction Sets.............................................................................................11–38

Tips for Successful Importing and Exporting ..........................................................................11–44

Customer Orders (CPO)...................................................................................................11–44

Advance Ship Notices (ASN)............................................................................................11–45

Invoices (INV)...................................................................................................................11–45

Forecasts (PLN) ...............................................................................................................11–46

Contents

12 – Contents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Special Notes ...................................................................................................................11–46

Purging Prior: A Few Hints ...............................................................................................11–47

Adding a Trading Partner Name to an ASN (EDI 856).....................................................11–47

Adding a Customer as an EDI Customer .........................................................................11–48

About This Guide

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

1 – 1

Chapter 1: About This Guide

This guide covers features that affect multiple areas of VISUAL. The chapters are:

Application Global Maintenance

– This chapter describes how to set up basic default information

that applies to your entire enterprise. If you have multiple accounting entities and sites, the

information you set up in Application Global Maintenance applies to all of your accounting entities and

sites.

Accounting Entity Maintenance

– This chapter describes how to set up accounting entities.

Site Maintenance

– This chapter describes how to set up sites.

Costing

– This chapter discusses the impact of using the various costing methods.

Document Maintenance

– This chapter describes how to add documents and URLs to your

database that you can reference in other records.

Message Maintenance

– This chapter describes how to use the messaging system.

Employee Maintenance

– This chapter describes how to set up employee records in your database.

Workflow

– This chapter describes how to set up workflows. Workflows are a set of predefined

conditions that you can use to guide users through specific business tasks.

Allocation Utilities

– This chapter describes how to use the Allocation Utilities to perform soft

allocations of supply quantities to customer order demand in a “batch mode.

Data Interchange

– This chapter describes how to use Electronic Data Interchange, an optional

module that imports and exports data into and out of VISUAL.

Prerequisite Knowledge

You should be familiar with the information in the Infor VISUAL Concepts and Common Features

Guide.

Related Information

These guides contain information related to this guide:

1 – 2

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

• Infor VISUAL Sales User’s Guide

• Infor VISUAL Purchasing User’s Guide

• Infor VISUAL Inventory User’s Guide

• Infor VISUAL Manufacturing User’s Guide

Application Global Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 1

Chapter 2: Application Global Maintenance

This chapter describes these topics:

Topics

What Is Application Global Maintenance? ...................................................................................... 2–2

Accessing Application Global Maintenance .................................................................................... 2–3

Specifying General Information ...................................................................................................... 2–4

Specifying Default Information........................................................................................................ 2–8

Specifying System-wide Codes .....................................................................................................2–11

Specifying Other Default Information............................................................................................ 2–25

What Is Application Global Maintenance?

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What Is Application Global Maintenance?

Use Application Global Maintenance to set up information about your tenant or “corporate parent.”

Each database can have only one tenant. Most of the information you define in Application Global

Maintenance applies to all accounting entities and sites in your database. You can override some

information you define in Application Global Maintenance in Accounting Entity Maintenance or Site

Maintenance.

Information defined at the tenant level includes:

• Certain application-wide information, such as purchase quote type, the default directory for

documents, and interface theme

• Common codes, such as Honorifics, Packaging Types, Carriers, Workflow Codes, Commodity

Codes, and Units of Measure

Accessing Application Global Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 3

Accessing Application Global Maintenance

Use Application Global Maintenance to define the tenant. To access Application Global Maintenance,

select

Admin

Application Global Maintenance

Specifying General Information

2 – 4

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Specifying General Information

Use the General tab to specify this information:

• Corporate address

• Barcode transaction system time limit

• Number of recently used files to display in the File menu of certain windows

• Purchase quote type

• Synchronizer records setting

To specify information on the General tab:

Click the

General

tab.

In the address fields, specify your company’s corporate name and address.

If you have multiple accounting entities or multiple sites, you can specify different addresses for

your accounting entities in Accounting Entity Maintenance and for your sites in Site Maintenance.

If you have one accounting entity and one site, specify the company address in Application Global

Maintenance. The address information in Accounting Entity Maintenance and Site Maintenance is

not used in a single accounting entity, single site database.

If you are licensed to use the Barcode Transaction System, in the Barcode Transmission System

section specify the number of minutes to wait for a response from the system before the current

transaction is cleared.

To specify the number of recently accessed records to display, click the

Recent File List Limit

arrow and select the number of records you would like to add to the File menu.

You can choose to list up to 9 records.The recently used files list is used in these applications:

• Customer Maintenance

• Sales Order Entry

• Sales Order Management Window

• Purchase Order Entry

• Purchase Order Management Window

• Part Maintenance

• Vendor Maintenance

The recently used records setting you specify is applied to all of the applications that support the

recently used file list. You cannot use the recently used records feature in only some of the

applications. If you specify a number in the Recently Used Records field, then all of the

applications that support the feature will display a list of recently used records.

Recently used records will be tracked and displayed on the File menu after you specify a setting

in the Recent File List Limit field.

To de-activate the feature, specify 0 in the Recent File List Limit field.

In the Purchase Quote Type section, specify how to enter quantities in vendor quotes. Click one

of these options:

Specifying General Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 5

Quantity-break tables

– To specify a default price that applies to quantities from 1 to the quantity

you specify in the first quantity break, click this option.

For example, presume you specified this vendor pricing information:

If you ordered a quantity between 1 and 24, the vendor would charge $50 per unit. If you ordered

a quantity between 25 and 49, the vendor would charge you $40 per unit. If you ordered a

quantity between 50 and 99, the vendor would charge you $30 per unit. If you ordered a quantity

of 100 or more, then vendor would charge you $20 per unit.

Up-to-Quantity

– To specify a default price that applies to quantities greater than the largest up-to

quantity you specify, click this option.

For example, presume you specified this vendor pricing information:

If you ordered a quantity between 1 and 25, the vendor would charge $50 per unit. If you ordered

a quantity between 26 and 50, the vendor would charge $40 per unit. If you ordered a quantity

between 51 and 100, the vendor would charge $30 per unit. For all quantities 101 and above, the

vendor would charge the default price of $20 per unit.

To create Synchronizer Records for your warehouse management system, select the

Create

Synchronizer Records

check box.

To display the Financial menus, select the Financial Interface in Use check box. If you are

licensed to use VISUAL Financials, you can access the applications from the financial menus. To

hide Financial menus, clear the check box.

In the Default Oldest Open Invoice section, specify a default setting for defining the oldest past

due customer invoice. The system uses this information to help determine if the customer has an

unpaid invoice that exceeds the receivable aging threshold that you specify in Customer

Maintenance. The setting you specify in Application Global Maintenance is applied to any new

customers you create. You can override the setting in Customer Maintenance. Click one of these

options:

Determined by Invoice Date

– To use the date of the invoice to identify the oldest past due

invoice, click this option.

Quantity Price

Default $50

Break 1 25 $40

Break 2 50 $30

Break 3 100 $20

Quantity Price

Up to 1 25 $50

Up to 2 50 $40

Up to 3 100 $30

Default $20

Specifying General Information

2 – 6

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Determined by Due Date

– To use the date that the full amount of the invoice is due to identify

the oldest past due invoice, click this option.

Click the

Save

button.

Specifying Scheduling Information

Use the Scheduling tab to define the standard workday and shift information for your enterprise.

If you have multiple sites, you can define scheduling information specific to the sites in Site

Maintenance. If you choose not to define calendars specific to your sites, the schedule you specify

here is used instead.

If you are licensed to use a single site, the scheduling information you define in Application Global

Maintenance is used. Any scheduling information defined in Site Maintenance is ignored.

For both single site and multi-site users, you can define schedules for your shop resources in Shop

Resource Maintenance.

To define the standard shop calendar:

Click the

Scheduling

tab.

Enter the starting time for the first shift for each day of the week in the 1st Shift Start field.

By default, the first shift is presumed to start in the morning (AM).

For each day that has 1st Shift Start, specify the length in hours of the first, second, and third

shifts. If a shift is not worked, enter a 0.

The totals of the three shifts cannot exceed 24 hours.

First Shift is the period of hours starting at the 1st Shift Start time and ending after the specified

number of hours in the shift. Second shift follows immediately after the first shift and ends after

the specified number of hours. Third shift is immediately after the second shift; it ends after the

specified number of hours.

For example, if you specify a shift start of 7:00:00 AM, a first shift length of 8 hours, a second shift

length of 8 hours, and a third shift length of 4 hours, first shift is 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, second shift

is 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and third shift begins at 11:00 PM and runs until 3:00 AM.

Click

Save

Deleting Calendar Selections

To clear a line on your Standard Shop Calendar:

Select the line to clear.

Click the

Delete Selections

button.

An X is displayed in the row header to indicate that you have marked the entry for deletion.

Click

Save

. The information in the row is cleared.

Specifying General Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 7

Specifying Calendar Exceptions

In some instances, you may need to change a normal shift day, such as for a holiday. Use Calendar

Exceptions to define changes to the standard schedule.

If you have multiple sites, you can import the calendar exceptions in Application Global Maintenance

into the calendar exceptions you define in Site Maintenance.

Select

Maintain

Calendar Exceptions

Click

Insert

Specify the start date and end date for the exception. For example, if the resource will not be

available on January 1, 2012, enter 1/1/12 for the start and end date.

Specify the time that the First shift starts.

Enter the shift duration for the exception. If the shift is not to work at all, specify zero (0) in that

shift’s column.

The scheduler uses the information to adjust the normal weekly calendar setting for the date of

the exception, thereby giving an accurate estimation of resource availability.

Click

Save

You can modify and add information to the Shop Calendar and Exception Days Table at any time.

The changes take effect the next time you run the Global Scheduler.

Deleting Calendar Exceptions

To delete an exception:

Highlight the exception line and click

Delete

An X is displayed to indicate that the row is marked for deletion.

Click

Save

The exception is removed from the table.

Specifying Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Specifying Default Information

Use the Defaults tab to specify certain application-wide information, including:

• Trace ID information

• How to use customer pricing in shipping entry

• Default Document Maintenance options

• Password requirements in Workflow

• PLM connection settings

• Where to store macros

To specify information on the Defaults tab:

Click the

Defaults

tab.

If you use trace IDs in labor transactions and service receipts, select the

Only Trace Qty from

Preceding Operation

check box to force users to enter trace IDs sequentially at every labor

transaction or service receipt. Clear this check box if you do not want to force users to enter trace

IDs sequentially.

Use the Customer Price Effectivity in Shipping section to specify how the customer-specific

pricing information should be used when shipping an order to the customer. In Customer

Maintenance, you specify pricing information for each part the customer buys in the part pricing

table. When you specify the pricing information, you specify dates that the pricing is effective.

Click one of these options to specify how to use the part pricing information:

Always Require Price in Table

– If you require that a unit price be specified in the customer’s

part pricing table, click this option.

Use price on Order Line if Price is Not in Table

– To use the price specified in the customer

order if no price exists in the customer’s part pricing table, click this option.

Warn if Price is Not in Table, Use Price on Order Line

– To display a warning if no price exists

in the customer’s part pricing table, click this option. If you continue with the shipment, the price

specified in the customer order is used.

The setting you specify in Application Global Maintenance is the default setting. You can override

the setting for individual parts in Part Maintenance.

In the Documents section, specify the default email information to use in Document Maintenance:

Allow Emailing Associated Documents (default)

– Use this check box to specify the default

setting for the Allow Emailing check box in Document Maintenance. If you select the

Allow

Emailing Associated Documents (default)

check box, the Allow Emailing check box in

Document Maintenance is selected by default. If you clear the

Allow Emailing Associated

Documents (default)

check box, the Allow Emailing check box in Document Maintenance is

cleared by default. You can override the default setting in Document Maintenance.

To require the use of passwords for secured fields when working with workflows, select the

Passwords Required for Secured Fields

check box.

In the Terms section, specify this information:

Specifying Default Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 9

Default Terms

– Select the terms to use as the default for new customer and vendor records.

The terms that you select are also used as the default terms on transactions when another source

of terms definitions, such as a customer or vendor record, cannot be found. If you leave this field

blank, then Due on Receipt is used as the default terms.

You cannot specify terms with specific date definitions or installments. These types of terms are

not displayed when you click the

Terms

browse button.

Due on Receipt ID

– If you have set up more than one terms ID as due on receipt, use this field

to specify the terms ID to use as the default Due on Receipt ID. Terms are designated as due on

receipt if these conditions are met:

• The Discount type and Net type are Age of Invoice

• The Discount days and Net days are 0

• The Discount % is 0

• The freight terms are billed

When you click the browse button, only the terms that meet the criteria for due on receipt are

displayed.

The terms that you select are used on transactions when default terms have not been defined on

the customer or vendor record and the Default Terms field in Application Global Maintenance is

blank.

If you leave this field blank, then the first terms ID in the database that meets the criteria for due

on receipt is used as the default.

If you specify a default Due on Receipt terms ID, it is used on all AP and AR memos. If you do not

specify a default Due on Receipt terms ID, then the first terms ID in the database that meets the

criteria for due on receipt is used.

If VISUAL is integrated to Infor PLM, you can directly access PLM from Part Maintenance. Use

the PLM Integration section to specify default PLM access information for all sites in your

database. You can override the information you specify in Application Global Maintenance for

each of your sites in Site Maintenance. Specify this information:

– Specify the external launch URL for Web PLM.

Enable

– To allow direct access to PLM for all sites by default, select this check box. To prevent

direct access to PLM for all sites by default, clear this check box.

In the Macros section, specify how to store macros and where to read macros. Macros can be

stored and read from the workstation or from the database.

To store macros in and read them from the database, select the Store Macros in Database check

box. After you select the check box, these conditions apply:

• When a user runs a macro, the macro is read from the database.

• Any macros created after the check box is selected are stored in the database.

To store macros on and read them from the workstation, clear the check box. After you clear the

check box, these conditions apply:

• When a user runs a macro, the macro is read from the workstation.

• Any macros created after the check box is selected are stored on the workstation.

Specifying Default Information

2 – 10

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

You cannot read certain macros from the database and other macros from the workstation. If you

previously stored macros on the workstation but now store them in the database, you can load

your existing macros from the workstation to the database. Similarly, if you previously stored

macros in the database but now store them on the workstation, you can load your existing macros

from the database onto the workstation. See "Storing Macros" on page 4–28 in the Concepts and

Common Features guide.

Click

Save

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 11

Specifying System-wide Codes

Use the options in the Maintain menu to specify common codes used throughout your enterprise.

Working with Table Maintenance

These codes are available from the Table Maintenance section of the Maintain menu:

SIC Table

– Standard Industrial Classification codes classify various companies by the products they

produce.

AIC Table

– You can use AIC codes (Another Industrial Codes) as an alternative to SIC codes.

Ship Via Table

– Ship Via codes represent the various methods you use to ship product to your

customers.

FOB Point Table

– FOB (Free On Board) codes determine at what point in the shipping process the

customer must take responsibility for shipping fees for the goods your company is shipping.

States and Provinces

– The system includes the abbreviations for the 50 United States and the

Canadian provinces.

Countries

– Countries with whom you do business.

Territory Table

– Territory codes represent the various geographical regions in which your company

conducts business.

Commodity Table

– Commodity codes represent the class of materials used by your company.

Honorific Table

– Honorifics precede an individual’s name. Examples include Mrs., Mr., and Dr.

Entering Information into Code Tables

To enter codes:

Select

Maintain

Table Maintenance

, then select the option for the code you are entering. For

example, to enter SIC Codes, select

Maintain

Table Maintenance

SIC Table

Click

Insert

Specify the code.

For all tables except the Honorific table, enter a description of the code. The Honorific table does

not include a description field.

Click

Save

Specifying System-wide Codes

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Specifying FOB Point Codes in a Multi-site Database

In a multi-site database, one site can purchase materials from another site. When you enter the

purchase order, the FOB code you use indicates which site owns the materials while they are in

transit. The code you use determines when financial transactions associated with shipping occur.

To specify the in-transit owner, click the Intransit arrow and select one of these options:

Shipping

– The site shipping the materials owns the materials while they are in transit.

Receiving

– The site the materials are being shipped to owns the materials while they are in transit.

If you leave the Intransit field blank, then neither site owns the materials while they are in transit. The

shipping site no longer owns the materials as soon as they are shipped. The receiving site assumes

ownership of the parts as soon as they are received.

Specifying User Dimensions

If you use dimensional reporting, you can attach user dimensions for commodity codes and for

territory codes.

Commodity code user dimensions can be used in these transactions:

• Receivable Invoice

• Shipment

• Payable Invoice

• Purchase Receipts

• Inventory Adjustments

• Work Order Issues

• Work Order Labor

• Work Order Service

• Work Order Finished Goods

Territory code user dimensions can be used in these transactions:

• Receivable Invoice

• Shipment

You can set up different user dimensions for each code. Use the User Dimensions dialog box to

specify which user dimensions to associate with a particular code. Use the User Dimensions Priorities

dialog box available in the Accounting Window to determine when the warehouse user dimension IDs

should be used. See "Cost Centers" on page 2-1 in the General Ledger guide.

To associate user dimensions with codes:

From the Commodity Code table or the Territory table, click

User Dimensions...

In the left pane, each user dimension group is listed. Expand the list under the user dimension

group to view the transactions in which code user dimensions can be used.

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 13

To assign the same dimensions to all transaction types, click the name of the dimension group in

the left pane. All Subledgers is inserted in the Subledger field.

To assign dimensions to a particular transaction type, select the appropriate transaction type. The

transaction type is inserted in the Subledger field.

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Valid From

– Specify the date the dimension assignment becomes effective.

Debit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

debits.

Credit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

credits.

Click

Save

Deleting Information from Code Tables

To delete codes from tables:

Select

Maintain

Table Maintenance

, then select the option for the code you are deleting.

Select the line to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header indicating you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

Working with Reasons Maintenance

You can define these codes in the Reasons Maintenance section of the Maintain menu:

RMA

– A Return Material Authorization (RMA) is a document that controls the return of some part or

parts previously sold and shipped to a customer. Use RMA Reason Codes to specify why a customer

is returning a part.

Adjustment Reason Table

– Use Adjustment Reasons to specify why you are making an

adjustment.

Issue/Return/Transfer Reasons

– Use Issue/Return/Transfer reasons to specify why you are

moving inventory.

Deviation Reasons

– Use Deviation Reason codes to specify why the quantity used is different from

the quantity completed. To set the requirement for Deviation Reason, refer to Site Maintenance.

Inspection Reasons

– Use Inspection reasons to specify why parts and materials are inspected.

Specifying System-wide Codes

2 – 14

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Entering Information Into Reason Tables

To enter reason codes:

Select

Maintain

Reasons Maintenance

, then select the option for the code you are entering. For

example, to enter RMA Reasons Codes, select,

Maintain

Reasons Maintenance

RMA

Reasons

Click

Insert

Specify the code.

Specify a description of the code.

If you are specifying Issue/Return/Transfer reason codes, click the I

ssue/Return/Transfer

arrow

and select the types of transactions to which the reason code applies. You can select a single

type of transaction (for example, Returns only) or any combination of transactions.

Click

Save

Deleting Information From Reason Tables

To delete codes from tables:

Select

Maintain

Reasons Maintenance

, then select the option for the code you are deleting.

Select the line to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header indicating you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

Working With Accounting Maintenance

These codes are available from the Reasons Maintenance section of the Maintain menu:

Department Table

– Departments represent the individual areas you use in your manufacturing

facility.

Terms Table

– Terms describe the payment arrangements you use.

Entering Information Into the Department Maintenance Table

To enter department codes:

Select

Maintain

Accounting Maintenance

Department Table

Click the

Insert

button.

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 15

Specify this information:

– Specify the ID for the department.

Description

– Specify the description of the department.

Click

Save

Specifying User Dimensions

If you are using user dimensions, assign a user dimension to your department IDs. To assign a user

dimension:

Select the department to which you are assigning user dimensions.

Click

User Dimensions

In the left pane, each user dimension group is listed. Expand the list under the user dimension

group to view the transactions in which this record is used.

To assign the same dimensions to all transaction types, click the name of the dimension group in

the left pane. All Subledgers is inserted in the Subledger field.

To assign dimensions to a particular transaction type, select the appropriate transaction type. The

transaction type is inserted in the Subledger field.

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Valid From

– Specify the date the dimension assignment becomes effective.

Debit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

debits.

Credit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

credits.

Click

Save

Deleting Information From the Department Maintenance Table

To delete codes from tables:

Select

Maintain

Accounting Maintenance

Department Maintenance

Select the department to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header indicating you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

Note:

The department is not deleted from the database until you click Save.

Specifying System-wide Codes

2 – 16

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Entering Information into the Terms Table

Note:

If you use Infor VISUAL Financials Global Edition, this menu selection is not available. You

must define terms in VISUAL Financials Global Edition. Refer to the VISUAL Financials Global

Edition online help.

Use Terms Maintenance to define the payment terms you use when you invoice customers and when

vendors invoice you. Terms are used in several windows, including Customer Maintenance,

Customer Order Entry, the Estimating Window, Receivable Invoice Entry, Vendor Maintenance,

Purchase Order Entry, and Payable Invoice Entry.

To add terms:

Select

Maintain

Accounting Maintenance

Terms Table

Click

Insert

In the Discount Terms section, specify this information:

Type

– Click the

Type

arrow and select the type of discount term you are entering.

You can select:

Age of Invoice

– If discounts are based on a specific number of days from the invoice date,

select the

Age of Invoice

option. If you select Age of Invoice, you must specify the number of

days you will offer the discount and the discount percentage.

Day of month

– If discounts apply only if payment is received before the next occurrence of

the day of month you specify, select the

Day of month

option. If you select Day of Month, you

must specify the day of the month to use and the discount percentage.

Specified Date

– If discounts apply only if payment is received before a specific date, select

the

Specified Date

option. If you select Specified Date, you must specify the fixed date to use

and the discount percentage.

Invoice age, day of month

– If discounts are based on a combination of a specific Invoice

age and day of the month, select the

Invoice age, day of month

option. If you select Invoice

age, day of month, you must specify the number of months and day of the month to use and

the discount percentage.

EOM, no of days

– If discounts are based on a specific day of the month but several months

from the invoice date, select the

EOM, no. of days

option. If you select EOM, no. of days, you

must specify the number of months to allow, the day of the month on which the discount will

end, and the discount percentage.

For example, if you select EOM, no. of days and specify:

Months = 2

Day of Month = 7

Discount % = 2.00

This discount rule is applied:

2% if paid on or before the 7th day of the month, 2 months from the invoice date.

If the invoice date is May 10th, 2011, the discount is applied until July 7th, 2011.

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 17

In the Net section, specify this information:

Type

– Click the

Type

arrow and select the type of term you are entering.

You can select:

Age of Invoice

– If payment terms are based on a specific number of days from the invoice

date, select the

Age of Invoice

option. If you select Age of Invoice, then you must also

specify a number the days to use.

Day of month

– If payment terms are based on receiving payment before the next occurrence

of the day of month you specify, select the

Day of month

option. If you select Day of Month,

you must specify the day of the month to use.

Specified Date

– If payment terms are based on receiving payment before a specified date,

select the

Specified Date

option. If you select Specified Date, you must specify the fixed date

to use.

Invoice age, day of month

– If payment terms are based on a combination of a specific

Invoice age and day of the month, select the

Invoice age, day of month

option. If you select

Invoice age, day of month, you must specify the number of months and day of the month to

use.

EOM, no of days

– If payment terms are based on a specific day of the month but several

months from the invoice date, select the

EOM, no. of days

option. If you select EOM, no. of

days, you must specify the number of months to allow and the day of the month on which the

payment is due.

For example, if you select EOM, no. of days and specify:

Months = 3

Day of Month = 2

This payment rule is applied:

Payment is due on or before the 2nd day of the month, 3 months form the invoice date.

If the invoice date is May 10th, 2011, the payment rule is applied until August 2nd, 2011.

Installments

– If payment terms are based on installments, select

Installment

In the Freight Terms section, specify when freight charges are applied. Select one of these

options:

Prepaid

– If freight must be paid before shipment, select the

Prepaid

option.

Billed

– If freight charges are to be included in the invoice, select the

Billed

option.

Collect

– If the shipping company collects the freight charges, select the

Collect

option.

If you selected Installments in the Net Type field, click the Installment tab to specify installment

information.

In the Period type section, specify whether the installments will be based on days, weeks, or

months. When you select an option, the period column in the installment table is changed to

match your selection. For example, if you select weeks as the period type, the N.Weeks label

is inserted in the installment table.

Click the

Insert

button and specify:

Specifying System-wide Codes

2 – 18

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

N. Inst

– The number of the installments in sequential order is inserted.

% Inst.

– Specify the percentage of the total due for the installment.

N. [Period]

– Specify when the installment is due. For example, if you selected Days as the

Period Type and specified 10 in the N.Days column, then the installment is due 10 days after

the invoice date.

Repeat step b to enter additional installments. The total of all installments must equal 100%.

If you are working with installments and the payment is due at the end of the month, select the

Due Date at the End of the Month

check box in the Installments section.

If you enabled VAT and you want to include the VAT amount on the first installment, select the

VAT Amount on First Installment

check box in the Installments section.

To generate a Term ID and Description based on the terms you specified, click

Gen ID and Desc

Typically, the any discount percentage associated with the term is listed first followed by the net

due information. For example, if you created a term that offered a 1.5% discount if paid by 10

days after the invoice date with the net amount due in 30 days, the term ID would be

1.5%10Net30.

You can also specify your own ID and description.

Click

Save

Discontinuing Use of a Term

To discontinue the use of a term without deleting the term from your database, clear the

Active

check

box. The term will no longer be available for selection.

Deleting Terms

You can delete a term from the database if it is not used on any other record. To delete terms:

Select the term ID.

Click

Delete

The system prompts you to confirm your deletion. Click

Yes

The Term ID you selected is deleted.

To close the Terms Maintenance dialog box, click

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 19

Specifying Customer Order Acknowledgment Codes

When customers send orders to their suppliers electronically, they often require a return document

verifying the receipt and acceptance of the order. In Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), this document

is called the Order Acknowledgment, typically referred to as the 855 X12 Transaction or the Purchase

Order Response Message in EDIFACT.

To specify Customer Order Acknowledgment codes:

Select

Maintain

CO Acknowledgments Codes

X12 are shown in the dialog box by default. You can delete these codes.

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Code

– Specify a unique alpha-numeric identifier for the code.

Description

– Specify a description of the code.

Click

Save

Deleting Customer Order Acknowledgment Codes

To delete Customer Order Acknowledgment codes:

Select the code to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header, indicating that you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

The code is removed from your database.

Entering Harmonization Codes

Use Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes when shipping to and receiving from international

locations.

To enter Harmonization codes:

Select

Maintain

Harmonization Codes

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

HTS Code

– Specify a unique identifier for the code.

Description

– Specify a description for this code.

Duty %

– Specify the duty percentage for this code.

Specifying System-wide Codes

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

To specify duty percentages by country, click

Duty by Country

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Country of Origin

– Specify the country that has a specific duty percentage.

Duty %

– Specify the duty percentage.

Click

Save

Click

Save

Deleting Harmonization Codes

To delete a harmonized tariff code:

Select the code to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header, indicating that you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

The code is removed from your database.

Entering National Motor Freight Codes

National Motor Freight Codes (NMFC) are a measure of the difficulty of transporting a product.

To specify NMFC:

Select

Maintain

National Motor Freight Codes

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

– Specify a unique ID for the code.

Article

– Specify the NMFC article classification.

Sub

– Specify the sub-classification of the article.

Truck Load Class

– Specify the class for a full truck load (5 characters maximum).

Less Than Truck Load Class

– Specify the class for a partial truck load.

Hazardous

– To indicate that the material is hazardous, select the check box.

Description

– A description of the types of parts to be transported under this code (250

characters maximum).

Click

Save

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 21

Deleting National Motor Freight Codes

To delete NMFCs:

Select the code you to delete.

Click Delete.

An X is displayed on the row header, indicating that you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

The code is removed from your database.

Entering Transaction Categories

Note:

This table is available only if you use Infor VISUAL Financials Global Edition.

Use transaction categories to extend the posting account and its segments. Transaction categories

are used to generate balance transactions below the posting account level, and further classify

transactions against a posting level account.

To specify transaction categories:

Select

Maintain

Transaction Categories

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Code

– Specify the code to use.

Description

– Specify a description of the code.

Click

Save

Deleting Transaction Categories

To delete Transaction Category codes:

Select the code to delete.

Click the

Delete

button.

An X is displayed in the row header, indicating that you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

The code is removed from your database.

Specifying System-wide Codes

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Specifying Workflow Codes

Use the Workflow Codes dialog box to customize the text that is displayed when you use workflow

codes. You cannot add or delete codes, just change the text that appears.

To change Workflow Code text:

Select

Maintain

Workflow Codes

Click in the Text column for the code to change and specify new text.

Click

Save

Bid Rate Maintenance

Use the dialogs in the Bid Rate Maintenance menu to perform these tasks:

• Create bid rate categories

• Create bid rate groups

• Add bid rate categories to bid rate groups

Use bid rate categories and groups in the estimating process. Usually, bid rate categories and groups

are used when you develop quotes outside of VISUAL in Excel and import them into Quick Quote.

You can use categories and groups to develop high-level costs that are not necessarily the same as

the cost to run a particular resource or to acquire a particular raw material. You can specify bid rate

categories for resources in Shop Resource Maintenance. Specify bid rate categories for parts in Part

Maintenance.

When you use Quick Quote to create a quote in the Estimating Window, the bid rate category for each

part and resource is displayed.

Creating Bid Rate Categories

To create bid rate categories:

Select Admin, Application Global Maintenance.

Select Maintain, Bid Rate Maintenance, Bid Rate Categories.

Click Insert.

Specify an ID and a description.

Click Save.

Creating Bid Rate Groups

To create bid rate groups:

Specifying System-wide Codes

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 23

Select Admin, Application Global Maintenance.

Select Maintain, Bid Rate Maintenance, Bid Rate Groups.

Click Insert.

Specify an ID and a description.

Click Save.

Adding Bid Rate Categories to Bid Rate Groups

To add bid rate categories to bid rate groups:

Select Admin, Application Global Maintenance.

Select Maintain, Bid Rate Maintenance, Bid Rate Group Categories.

In the Bid Rate Group field, select the group to which you are adding categories.

Click Insert.

Double-click the category ID browse button and select the category.

Click Save.

Entering Packaging Type Codes

Packaging type codes define the dimensions of the packaging you use. Assign a default packaging

code to a part in Part Maintenance.

To specify Packaging Type codes:

Select

Maintain

Packaging Types

Click

Insert

In the Code column, specify the code to use for this package type.

Specify the

Length

Width

, and

Height

of the package.

Click

Save

Deleting Packaging Type Codes

To delete Packaging Type codes:

Select the code to delete.

Click the

Delete

button.

An X is displayed in the row header, indicating you have marked it for deletion.

Specifying System-wide Codes

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click

Save

The code is removed from your database.

Entering Carriers

Use the Carriers dialog box to specify the commercial carriers you use when shipping and receiving

materials.

To specify carriers:

Select

Maintain

Carriers

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

– Specify a unique identifier for the carrier.

Name

– Specify the name of the carrier.

Shipper ID

– Specify the identification of the shipper as assigned by the carrier.

Default Route

– Specify the default routing information.

Default Shipper Instructions

– Specify the standard instructions from the shipper to the carrier.

Default COD Fee

– Specify the standard fee the carrier charges for collecting COD payments.

Address fields

– Specify the carrier’s address.

VAT Registration

– Specify the registration number of the shipper.

Parcel ID

– Specify a Parcel ID for this carrier. This ID is used to help identify the carrier for the

UPS Connect interface.

Web URL

– Specify the carrier’s web address.

Click

Save

Deleting Carrier Codes

To delete Carrier codes:

Select the code to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header, indicating that you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

The code is removed from your database.

Specifying Other Default Information

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2 – 25

Specifying Other Default Information

In addition to system-wide codes, you can specify this default information:

• Default login profile

• Export formats used for electronic payments

• Address layouts

• Revision numbering information

• .NET configuration information

You can also monitor reporting service print jobs.

The system administrator can set up this information:

• Report format overrides

• BOD maintenance information

• VISUAL reporting data.

Refer to the Infor VISUAL System Administrator’s User Guide for the procedures a system

administrator can perform.

Specifying a Default Sign In Profile

Use the Default Sign In Profile function to set default sign in information for the work station. If you

specify a default database, user ID and password, work station users will automatically be signed in

when they access VISUAL. This is typically used only when executing a single program from a

desktop icon, such as Barcode Labor Entry. This allows you to give access to specific applications on

the shop floor and not require the personnel to sign in with a password. For system security purposes,

it is highly recommended that you do not specify complete default sign in information.

You can also specify a portion of the sign in information, such as database ID and User ID. If you

specify a portion of the sign in information, users are prompted to provide the remaining information

when they access the system.

To set up default sign in information:

Select

Maintain

Default Sign In Profile

Specify this information:

Database

– Specify the default database name. Leave this field blank to prompt users to specify

a database name when they access the system.

User ID

– Specify the default user ID. Leave this field blank to prompt users to specify a user ID

when they access the system.

Password

– Specify the password associated with the user ID you specified. For security

purposes, the characters you type are replaced with asterisks. Leave this field blank to prompt

users to specify a password when they access the system.

Repeat Password

– Re-type the password. For security purposes, the characters you type are

replaced with asterisks.

Specifying Other Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click

If you specified information in each of the fields, a dialog box is displayed informing you that the

information you specified will take effect the next time the system is accessed. Click

to exit the

dialog box.

If you specified information in only some of the fields, a dialog box is displayed informing you that

users will be prompted to supply the missing information the next time the system is accessed.

Click

Yes

to exit the dialog box.

Creating Export Formats

Use the Export Formats dialog box to edit and create export format field definitions.

Select

Maintain

Export Formats

Click the

Type

arrow and select a format. You can select:

• ESL

• Intrastat

• Payment

• Payment/XML

• VAT

Specify a unique identifier for this export format in the Export ID field.

Click the

Context

arrow and select a Context for this format. You can select:

File Footer

– The File Footer contains batch total summary type information. Banks use this

information to determine if they have successfully processed the file (i.e. have not missed any

transactions).

File Header

– The File header contains information about the company sending the file to the

bank or payment processing facility.

Header

– Header information is the “check” that has been created. Checks (cheques if

international) contain the payment summary information to send to the vendor. It contains the

vendor’s name, the payment date, and the total amount paid. The payment total is a summary of

all invoices paid to a particular vendor.

Line Item

– Line items contain the remittance information supporting the payment total—for

example, Invoice ID, Invoice Date, and Reference.

Click

Insert

to add format definition information in the line item table.

These columns are shown in the line item table:

Start At

– This is the starting position in the data for this field. Zero is the first byte. Use this to

sequence the data fields.

Abut Previous

– Select this check box if the starting position in the data for this field is one byte

after the last byte of the previous field.

Specifying Other Default Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 27

Data Expression

– You can specify any legal SQLWindows (SAL) expression. The exporter

requires the data type returned to be type String.

Supported Element

– A “Y” is displayed in this column if the SQLWindows expression you

entered in the Data Expression column is a supported expression.

Data Length

– Use this field only when the expression refers to the data variable directly without

conversion. Specify the length of data in bytes not including quotes and commas.

Data Type

– Use this field only when the expression refers to the data variable directly without

conversion. Select one of these types:

– Character

– Number (decimal)

– Date

– Time

– Integer

Data Scale

– Use this type only when the expression refers to the data variable directly without

conversion. Specify the scale for the decimal number type.

Quote Data

– Specify whether quotation marks are placed around data. Select one of these

values:

– To place double quotation marks (“) around data elements, select this option.

– To place single quotation marks (‘) around data elements, select this option.

– To place no quotation marks around data elements, select this option.

Text Qualifier

– Specify the character that designates data as text.

Comma Separate

– To separate data fields with commas, select this check box.

Field Delimiter

– To separate data fields with a character of your choosing, specify the character

in this field.

Terminate Record

– If you select this check box, a CRLF (0x0d, 0x0a) is added after this field, if

it is not the last data field in the record. Note, however, that the last data field in the record is

automatically followed by CRLF. The prior rule prevents two consecutive record terminators.

Click

Save

Creating XML Payment Export Formats

You can create an AP export file format in XML. Use the Payment/XML format to export payments to

Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA)-compliant file transfer systems. You can create an export format

to use with release version 4.0 for SEPA Credit Transfers. For more information, refer to http://

www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/content.cfm?page=sct_2010_rulebook.

You can also use XML file format to create a custom export file format.

You should have an understanding of XML before setting up export file formats.

Specifying Other Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

To create a simple XML payment export format:

Click the Type arrow and select Payment/XML.

Specify an Export ID.

Click the Insert button

Specify this information:

Seq No

– Specify a sequence number for the line. The sequence number indicates the order of

the lines in the XML document. The line with the lowest number is inserted in the document first.

You can specify a negative number.

Indent Level

– Specify an indent number for the line. Indent numbers identify how the lines are

grouped together.

Element

– Specify the name of the element. The element is the tag name. You do not have to

specify the starting tag or ending tag.

Value

– Specify the value to use for the element. Click the arrow to select from common database

fields. You can also specify your own value.

Is An Attribute?

– If the line in an attribute to the element, select the

Is An Attribute

check box.

If you designate an attribute, you should sequence the line so that it is immediately after the

element with which it is associated. You should specify the same indent level.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 to insert additional lines.

Click

Save

For example, presume you entered these lines:

This XML code would be generated:

The USD currency ID and 1234.00 values are extracted from the database.

Seq Indent Tag Tag Value

Is an

Attribute?

1 0 Payment N

2 1 Code SEPA N

3 2 Amount

AMOUNT (selected from drop-

down menu)

4 2 CurrencyID

CURRENCY_ID (selected from

drop-down menu)

Specifying Other Default Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 29

Building Payment/XML Formats with the Context Menu

You can build more complex Payment/XML formats using built-in macros and the Context menu. The

Context menu inserts standard elements into the XML file. You can use each context once in each

Export ID. The macros and contexts indicate how the information is linked together.

Specify an Export ID in the Export ID field.

Build the File Header. Click the

Context

arrow and select File Header.

The system inserts the doctype and root elements. The system inserts the standard xml version

identification information in the Value field associated with the doctype element. Enter a value for

the root element. The root element is the first tag in the XML file.

Click the

Insert

button and specify any other elements you would like to use in the file header.

At the point where you would like to include the Header context information, click the

Insert

button and specify %HEADER% in the Element column. This indicates that the system will look

for the Header context information. If you create additional lines after the %HEADER% line, the

system will insert those lines after it inserts the entire Header.

Click

Save

Build the Header context information. Specify the same Export ID as you entered in step 1, then

click the

Context

arrow and select Header.

Click the

Insert

button and specify the elements and attributes to use for the document header.

At the point where you would like to include the LIne Item context information, click the

Insert

button and specify %LINEITEM% in the Element column. This indicates that the system will look

for the Line Item information. If you create additional lines after the %LINEITEM% line, the system

will insert those lines after it inserts the entire Line Item context information.

Click

Save

Build the Line Item context information. Specify the same Export ID as you entered in Step 1, then

click the

Context

arrow and select Line Item.

Click the

Insert

button and specify the elements and attributes to use for the line items.

Click

Save

The system links together the information you built for the File Header, Header, and Line Item

contexts.

Complex Expressions

You can combine simple calls for data from the database with expressions that convert the data to a

different format or prompt the system to choose between two values. You can use these expressions:

@FORMATNUMBER

– Use this expression to change the format of a number. You can specify the

number of decimal places and the separator characters you use. To use the expression, specify the

number you would like to convert, then specify the format. For example:

@FORMATNUMBER (1235,99, “#,##0”) would convert 1235,99 to 1,235.

Specifying Other Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

@FORMATDATE

– Use this expression to change the format of a date. To use the expression,

specify the date you would like to convert, then specify the format. For example:

@FORMATDATE (2010-07-14, “mm/dd/yyyy”) would convert 2010-07-14 to 07/14/2010.

@UTCDATE

– Use this expression to change the format of a date into universal time coordinate

(UTC) format. To use the expression, specify the date you would like to convert, specify if you would

like to show the time, and specify if you would like to show the duration. To specify whether or not to

show the time or offset, use True to show the time or offset and False to not show the time or offset.

For example,

@UTCDATE (2010-07-14, TRUE, FALSE) would convert 2010-07-14 to 2010-07-

14T16.25.54.18z. If you specified @UTCDATE (2010-07-14, TRUE, TRUE), the date would

convert to 2010-07-14T16:25:54.18Z-04:00.

@ROUND

– Use this expression to round a fractional number to a specific number of decimal places.

To use this expression, specify the number you would like to round followed by the precision and

scale. Precision is the number of digits in the number; scale is the number of digits after the decimal

point. For example:

@ROUND (6543.1267, 6, 2) will convert 6543.1267 to 6543.13. If you specified @ROUND

(6543.1267, 5, 2), 6543.1267 would be converted to 6543.1 Since the number is limited to 5 digits

in the definition, the system would only include one digit after the decimal point.

@LOOKUP

– Use this expression to retrieve a cross-referenced value from the database. To use the

expression, specify the key, table, keyfield, and datafield. For example,

@LOOKUP (‘CURRENCY_ID’, ‘CURRENCY’, ‘ID’, ‘ISO_CODE’) would retrieve the ISO code for

the currency ID.

@SQL

– Use this expression to execute a simple select SQL statement against the database. For

example:

@SQL (‘SELECT COMPANY_NAME FROM APPLICATION_GLOBAL’) would retrieve the

company_name data from the application_global table.

@IF

– Use this expression to ask the system to return one of two values based on the result of a test

you specify. To use this expression, specify a test (for example, 1<2), the value the system returns if

the test is true, and the value the system returns if the test is false. For example,

@IF (1>2, ‘1 is greater than 2’, ‘1 is not greater than 2,’) would return 1 is not greater than 2. The

system would evaluate the test, 1>2, determine that the test is false (1 is less than 2), and return

the value you specified for a false test, 1 is not greater than 2.

Concatenation

You can join simple expressions or string values and simple expressions together using a

concatenation operator. The concatenation operator is a double pipe: ||. For example:

VEND_BANK_CITY || ’,’ || VEND_BANK_STATE || VEND_BANK_ZIPCODE would produce the

vendor bank’s city, state and zip code in this format: Boston, MA 02123. In this example, the comma

is a string value and the references to database columns are simple expressions.

Specifying Other Default Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

2 – 31

Other Functions

You may find these functions useful in your export file formats:

SalDateCurrent()

– Use this function to return the current date and time. You can use this function in

conjunction with a complex expression to specify a format for the data. For example:

@UTCDATE ( SalDateCurrent(), TRUE, FALSE) would return the current date expressed in UTC

format without offset. For example, 2010-07-14T14:58:27.68Z.

SalStrLeftX( string, length)

– Use this function to return a portion of the string value you specify. For

example:

SalStrLeftX (DESCRIPTION, 40) would return the first 40 characters in the DESCRIPTION

database column.

SalStrTrimX (string)

– Use this function to remove all blanks from the string value. For example:

SalStrTrimX (COMPANY_NAME) would return MajesticManufacturingCompany instead of

Majestic Manufacturing Company.

SalStrScan (string 1, string2)

– Use this function to find the value you specify for string2 in string1.

For example:

SalStrScan (VENDOR_NAME, ‘Steel’) would return vendor names that included the word ‘steel’ .

SalNumberAbs (number)

– Use this function to return the absolute number.

Using the SQL Dialog Box

After you specify your export file format, click the SQL button. The system constructs a SQL

statement that you can use to add the export file format to your database. Copy the SQL statement

from the dialog box and paste it into SQLTalk or other database management tool.

Deleting Export Formats

To delete Export Formats:

Click the

Type

arrow and select the type of format to delete.

Click the

Export ID

arrow and select the format to delete.

If you created contexts for the export ID, click the Context arrow and select the context to delete.

If you created multiple contexts, you must delete each context one by one to delete the entire

Export ID.

Click

Delete

Click

Yes

in the dialog box.

The Export Format is deleted.

To delete lines from an Export Format:

Click the

Type

arrow and select the type to modify.

Specifying Other Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click the

Export ID

arrow and select the format to modify.

Click the row header to select the line to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header indicating you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

The line you selected is removed from the Export Format.

Entering Address Layouts

Multiple address layouts are supported for use throughout VISUAL. You define address layouts by

country. When you select the country in a window such as Customer Maintenance, the Country ID,

name and address layout update to the country’s associated address layout. If you do not define a

custom layout for a particular country, the default layout is used.

Country Address Layout IDs correspond to their country descriptions. If you use the same country

description with multiple Country IDs, you can use the same layout with more than one country. If a

country has multiple Country IDs with unique country descriptions, you can have multiple layouts for

that country. However, it is recommended that you maintain only one address layout per country by

making it flexible enough to accommodate all potential formats for the country.

Note:

If you type in a free-form description in the Country field and that description does not exist in

the Countries table, the country description is created but it is not added to the Country table. To use

the layout, users must manually specify it in the country description field in a maintenance window,

such as Customer Maintenance.

Address layouts can be up to five lines and are made up of labels and data fields. The labels are

displayed to the left of the data fields, and you can define one label for each line. You can use up to

seven data fields. You can place any of the fields on any of the lines in any order.

Users can enter alphanumeric text into the any of the data fields. Field #9 uses the codes you defined

in the States and Province table.

To define an address layout:

Select Admin, Application Global Maintenance.

Select

Maintain

Address Setup

The default address layout is the conventional US address layout.

To create a layout, specify an ID in the Country field. The ID must be the same as the Country for

which this address layout is intended. For example, an address layout ID of

Spain

is required for

an entity with a Country ID of Spain.

To modify an existing address layout, click the Country arrow and select the layout to edit.

Specify this information:

Field #

– The number of the field is inserted. This information is read-only.

Specifying Other Default Information

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2 – 33

Type

– The type of field is inserted. An L indicates that the field is a label field. An F indicates that

the field is a data field. This information is read-only.

Title

– For label fields, specify the text to use as the label. You can specify text for a label field

only. You cannot specify text for data fields.

Line #

– Specify on which line the label field or data field is displayed. You can specify numbers 1

through 5.

Position #

– If you are inserting more than one data field on a line, use the Position # column to

indicate the order of the data fields. For example, in the default layout, fields 8, 9, and 10 are each

on line 3. The Position # column indicates the order that these three fields are displayed. Field 8 is

displayed first, followed by Field 9, followed by Field 10.

The position # column does not apply to field labels.

Visible

– To display the field in the layout, select this check box. To hide the field, clear this check

box.

– Specify the percentage of the field to display. For example, to extend the length of a field,

enter a value greater than the current value. 999 is the maximum percent value you can enter.

Click

Save

The layout shows your changes.

Click the

button.

Deleting Address Layouts

To delete Address layouts:

Click the Country arrow and select the layout to delete.

Click

Delete

Click

Yes

in the prompt dialog box.

Click

Save

The layout is removed.

Copying Address Layouts

You can copy an existing address layout to create a new address layout. To copy an address layout:

Click the

Country

arrow and select the layout to copy.

Click

Copy

In the Copy To field, specify the new Country ID in the Copy To field.

Edit the layout as needed.

Click

Save

Specifying Other Default Information

2 – 34

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Using Custom Address Layouts

Open a window where you enter addresses. For example, open Customer Maintenance.

In the Country field of the address section, specify the Country ID that matches the Address

Layout ID to use. For example, if this is for the UK layout, specify

UK.

The address layout is changed

Enter the address information.

Click

Save

Maintaining Revision Numbering

Use Revision Numbering Maintenance to create revision stages and numbering profiles to use with

parts and other revision-controlled objects.

Select

Maintain

Revision Numbering

By default, the DESIGN, MANUAL, PILOT, and RELEASE stages are supplied.

To add a stage, click

Insert

Specify this information:

Stage

– Specify a name for the revision stage. The stages listed in this table are available in Part

Maintenance and other applications where you can assign a stage to an object.

Profile

– From the Profile drop-down list, select a numbering profile for this stage. You can select:

User Numbering

– To assign each revision number based on your numbering preferences,

select this option. When users specify a stage with the user numbering profile, a revision

number is automatically assigned to the record.

If you specify this option, the fields in the lower half of the dialog box become available.

Manual

– To manually specify each revision number, select this option. When users specify a

stage with a manual numbering profile, they are required to specify a revision number before

they can save the record.

None

– If you do not require a revision number to be entered, select this option. When users

specify a stage with None as the numbering profile, they can save the record without

specifying a revision number.

Note:

You cannot change the profile of a revision stage with a history.

Description

– Enter a description for the revision stage into the Description field.

If you select the User Numbering profile option, specify the revision numbers to use. You can

manually enter revision numbers or specify basic information and generate the revision numbers.

To manually enter revision numbers, click

Insert

and specify the revision number to use. To

specify a second number after the first revision number, click

Insert

again. To specify a second

number before the first revision number, click

Insert Before

Specifying Other Default Information

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2 – 35

To generate revision IDs, use the fields in the Generate Revision ID’s section. You can generate

number-based IDs or letter-based IDs. To generate IDs:

Starting Number

– To generate number-based IDs, specify the first revision number to use.

Ending Number

– To generate number-based IDs, specify the last revision number. When you

generate the revision IDs, revisions IDs between the starting number and ending number you

specify are created.

Alphanumeric Prefix/Starting Letters

– The label for this field changes depending on whether

you are generating number-based revision IDs or letter-based revision IDs.

If you are generating number-based IDs, the label for this field is Alphanumeric Prefix. To attach a

prefix to the revision, specify the characters in this field.

If you are generating letter-based IDs, the label for this field is Starting Letters. Specify the first

letter or letters to use.

Alphanumeric Suffix/Ending Letter(s)

– The label for this field changes depending on whether

you are generating number-based revision IDs or letter-based revision IDs.

If you are generating number-based IDs, the label for this field is Alphanumeric Suffix. To attach a

suffix to the revision, specify the characters in this field.

If you are generating letter-based IDs, the label for this field is Ending Letters. Specify the last

letter or letters to use. When you generate the revision IDs, revisions IDs between the starting

letters and ending letters you specify are created.

If you enter more than one letter in the Starting Letters and Ending Letters fields, the first letter

you enter is treated like a prefix. For example, if you enter AA in the Starting Letters field and BZ

in the Ending Letters field, the IDs AA, AB, AC, and so on are generated through ID BZ.

Omit Letters

– If you are generating letter-based IDs, you can specify letters to omit from the IDS

you generate. Specify the letters to omit. Use a comma to separate lists of letters.

This field is not available if you are generating numbers-based IDs.

Click

Generate

. The number of revision IDs to be created is displayed. Click

Yes

to generate the

IDs. The IDs are inserted in the table. You can edit the generated IDs as necessary.

Click

Save

If you are using generated IDs, the revision IDs are entered in order when you create a revision. If you

have used all of the generated revision IDs, you are warned when you try to create a revision.

Verifying VISUAL .NET Configuration Settings

If you use VISUAL Financials Global Edition or VISUAL Time & Attendance, use the .NET

Configuration Settings dialog to administer the connection to the .NET databases and executable.

This configuration must be specified correctly for you to drill from the Document Lifecycle viewer to

VISUAL Financials Global Edition. It is also used to write certain information to your .NET databases.

To verify these settings:

Select

Admin

Application Global Maintenance

Specifying Other Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Select

Maintain

VISUAL .NET Configuration

If you have registered your VISUAL Manufacturing database and added it to your topology in the

VISUAL for .NET Database Utility, then information about the instance group and instance name

is displayed. Review this information to ensure that it is accurate. If no information is displayed in

these fields, ensure that you have properly registered your VISUAL Manufacturing database in

the .NET Database Utility.

In the Install Path field, specify the location of LSA.exe.

Click

Save

Monitoring Reporting Service Print Jobs

If you have set up the VISUAL Reporting Service (VRPTSVC.EXE) to automatically run print jobs

based on a schedule, use the Report Service Configurations dialog to monitor print jobs. You can

review current Report Service print jobs, activate and deactivate them, and delete them.

The system administrator can control access to this dialog.

Reviewing Reporting Service Print Job Configurations

To review the print job configurations:

Select

Maintain

Report Service Configurations

Review this information:

Report Type

– The type of report that the service runs is displayed. For example, if a user has set

up a print job for work order travellers, then Work Order Traveller is displayed.

Site ID

– If applicable, the ID of the site where the report is run. Certain reports must be run one

site at a time.

User ID

– The ID of the user who scheduled the reporting service to run the report is displayed.

Enabled

– If the reporting service configuration is currently active, this check box is selected. If

the configuration is current inactive, this check box is cleared.

Last Run

– The date and time that the service ran the configuration is displayed.

Printer

– The printer where the service sent the print job is displayed.

To reread configuration information from the database, click

Refresh

Deactivating Reporting Service Print Job Configurations

To deactivate a reporting service print job configuration:

Select

Maintain

Report Service Configurations

Specifying Other Default Information

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Clear the

Enabled

check box.

Click

Save

If you are deactivating more than one print job, you must click save after each time you clear the

Enabled check box.

Deleting Reporting Service Print Job Configurations

To delete a reporting service print job configuration:

Select

Maintain

Report Service Configurations

Select the configuration to delete.

Click

Delete

. An X is displayed in the row header, indicating that the row will be deleted.

To complete the deletion, click

Save

. To cancel the deletion and retain the configuration in your

database, click Delete again. The X is removed from the row header.

Setting Preferences

Use the Program Preferences dialog box to specify the tab that is displayed when you access

Application Global Maintenance and to specify your preferred customer order entry and purchase

order entry program.

You can access purchase order entry and customer order entry from several windows in the system.

For example, you can open Purchase Order Entry from the Manufacturing Window. When you open

Purchase Order Entry from the Manufacturing Window, the program you specify as the preferred

purchase order entry program is opened.

To set program preferences:

Select

Options

Preferences

Specify this information:

Default Tab

– Click the arrow and select the tab to display when you first open Application Global

Maintenance.

Preferred C/O Entry Program

– Click the arrow and select the program you prefer to use for

Customer Order entry. Select either the

Customer Order Entry

program or the

Order

Management

program.

Preferred P/O Entry Program

– Click the arrow and select the program you prefer to use for

Purchase Order entry. Select either the

Purchase Order Entry

program or the

Purchase

Management Window

Click

Done

Specifying Other Default Information

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Accounting Entity Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

3 – 1

Chapter 3: Accounting Entity Maintenance

This chapter describes these topics:

Topics

What is Accounting Entity Maintenance?........................................................................................ 3–2

Accessing Accounting Entity Maintenance ..................................................................................... 3–3

Defining Accounting Entities ........................................................................................................... 3–4

What is Accounting Entity Maintenance?

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What is Accounting Entity Maintenance?

Use Accounting Entity Maintenance to define information about your accounting entities. An

accounting entity is an independent financial entity within your company. The accounting entity is the

“middle level” of the organizational structure. Each accounting entity is summarized to the Tenant

level. Information defined at the accounting entity level includes:

• Costing information, such as the costing method, POC revenue recognition method, and burden

basis

• Default VAT information

• Default Intrastat information

• Payment information, such as Next Payment Batch Sequence # and withholding information

• Default Order Management information, such as whether WIP/VAS is enabled, how the date of

the oldest outstanding invoice is determined, and allocation information

Information you define at the accounting entity level applies to each of the sites that belong to the

entity.

Accessing Accounting Entity Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

3 – 3

Accessing Accounting Entity Maintenance

To access Accounting Entity Maintenance, select

Admin

Accounting Entity Maintenance

Defining Accounting Entities

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Defining Accounting Entities

If you upgraded from a previous version, you defined one accounting entity ID during the upgrade

process.

If you have not exceeded the maximum number of accounting entities allowed by your license, you

can create additional accounting entities.

To create an accounting entity ID:

Click the New button.

In the Entity ID field, specify the accounting entity ID. We recommend that you

do not

use single

quotations (‘), forward slashes (/), or commas (,) in your entity ID. Using these characters may

cause issues with integrations to other products through Infor ION.

Click

Save

Use the tabs to define additional information about the accounting entity.

Specifying Information on the General Tab

Specify this information on the General tab:

• The entity’s address

• The entity’s tax ID number

• The default language ID for menus

• The effective exchange rate date

To specify information on the General tab:

Click the

General

tab.

In the address section, specify the entity’s address.

If you are licensed to use one entity and one site, define the address in Application Global

Maintenance. The address information specified in Accounting Entity Maintenance is not used in

a single entity, single site database.

In the Tax ID field, specify the entity’s tax ID number.

In the Language section, click the arrow and select USA. This field enables menus when you

build a baseline database. The field does not control the translations used in the interface. See

"Translations" on page 6–1 in the System Administration guide.

In the Effective Exchange Rate Date section, specify which date should be used to determine the

exchange rate to apply to a transaction. Select one of these options:

Use System Date

– Select this option to use the date that you entered the transaction to

determine the exchange rate.

Use Transaction Date

– Select this option to use the date of the transaction to determine the

exchange rate. Because you can specify a date on a transaction, the date of the transaction is not

necessarily the same as the current date. This is the default setting.

Defining Accounting Entities

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3 – 5

After you enter a transaction for this entity, these options are not available.

Click

Save

Specifying information on the Costing tab

See "Manufacturing Costing" on page 5–1 in this guide.

Using the VAT Tab

Value-Added Tax (VAT) is a tax on consumed goods. While the total tax amount is ultimately paid by

the customer who purchases the final product, a portion of the tax is collected any time goods or

services are purchased.

For example, if a company buys two raw materials for the manufacture of a product, the company

would pay VAT on the raw materials. When the final product is sold, the company is reimbursed for

the taxes paid on the raw materials.

VAT is not typically paid on exports.

To activate the fields on the VAT tab, click the Value Added Tax Support Enabled check box.

Specifying General VAT Information

Specify this information on the VAT tab:

Use VAT Books to generate invoice numbers

– To use the invoice and memo numbering

information set up in VAT Books, select this check box. To use the auto-numbering scheme set up in

Accounts Payable Invoices and Accounts Payable Receivables, clear this check box.

Calculate VAT on Freight

– To apply VAT to freight charges, select this check box. To omit freight

charges from VAT calculations, clear this check box.

VAT Categories Required

– To require users to specify a VAT category when VAT is applied to a

transaction, select this check box. To allow users to apply VAT to transactions without specifying a

VAT category, clear this check box. VAT categories identify the type of item being taxed: material,

service, or other.

VAT Registration

– Specify the VAT number of your company.

Next VAT Sequence #

– Specify the next number to use for VAT reporting.

VAT Receivables Export ID

– Specify the Receivables Export ID if you are generating reports to file.

VAT Payables Export ID

– Specify the Payables Export ID if you are generating reports to file.

Defining Accounting Entities

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Setting Up VAT Books

VAT Books control the numbering sequence of all invoices and memos created when VAT is enabled.

In the European Community, there may be more than one “VAT book” or numbering sequence in use

at any one time. With VAT enabled, more than one automatic number sequence can exist for invoices

and memos.

Use VAT Book Setup to specify numbering sequences. You can set up numbering sequences for

Accounts Payable Invoices, Accounts Payable Memos, Accounts Receivable Invoices, and Accounts

Receivable Memos. After you set up numbering sequences in VAT Book Setup, you can assign the

accounts receivable sequences to customers and accounts payable sequences to vendors.

When you generate invoices for your customers, the invoice number is determined by the VAT Book

code you assigned to the customer for invoices. If you issue a memo to a customer, the memo

number is determined by the VAT book code you assigned to the customer for memos.

If you create an invoice or memo manually, you must specify a VAT book code. If you create an

invoice or memo manually, the VAT book code you specify does not need to match the VAT book

code you specified on the customer or vendor record.

VAT codes are also used in VAT reports and Intrastat reports.

To set up a VAT Book:

Click

VAT Book Setup

Click

Insert

In the table, specify this information:

Code

– Specify an identifying code for the VAT Book.

Year

– Specify the year this VAT Book code is active. The current year is inserted when you

create a line in the table, but you can specify a different year.

Description

– Specify a description of the VAT Book.

In the Current Posting Date field, specify the date that transactions using the VAT Book code are

posted. This field is optional.

Posting dates used on VAT transactions must be sequential. For example, if you generated

invoice 101 and 102, the posting date on invoice 102 must be equal to or later than the posting

date on invoice 101.

If multiple users enter VAT transactions, you can specify a date in the Current Posting Date field

to ensure that posting dates on transactions are entered correctly.

In the VAT Code Type section, specify the types of transactions to associate with the VAT book

code. Select one or more of these check boxes:

• A/R Invoices

• A/R Memos

• A/P Invoices

• A/P Memos

In the Sequence Numbers section, specify this information:

Start Number

– Specify the first number to use.

Defining Accounting Entities

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3 – 7

Next Sequential Number

– Specify the second number to use.

Alphanumeric Prefix

– Specify the alphanumeric characters to use before the sequence number.

This field is optional.

Alphanumeric Suffix

– Specify the alphanumeric characters to use after the sequence number.

This field is optional.

Number of Decimal Places

– Specify the maximum number of digits to use in the ID.

Show Leading Zeros

– To display placeholder zeroes in the ID, select this check box. For

example, if you specified 4 in the Number of Decimal Places field and selected this check box,

0001 is used as the ID instead of 1.

In the Report Type field, click the arrow and specify the type of report to associate with the VAT

book code. Specify EC (European Community) or IT (Italy).

Click

Save

Setting Up VAT Percentages and G/L Accounts

You can set up VAT tax percentages and associated G/L accounts in the VAT section.

Click

VAT Setup

Click

Insert

In the table, specify this information:

Code

– Specify the VAT code.

Description

– Specify a description of the code.

In the Effective Date field, specify the date that the VAT code becomes effective.

In the VAT Type field, specify the type of VAT code. Select one of these options:

Default VAT

– Use this option to set up VAT codes to use between countries that are not both in

the European Commission.

Intra-Euro VAT

– Use this option to set up VAT codes between two countries in the European

Commission. Use this type to create VAT codes if vendors are not required to apply VAT for

transactions. You can specify Intra-Euro VAT codes on Vendor records and purchase orders, and

accounts payable invoices.

If you selected Default VAT in the VAT Type field, specify this information:

Tax Percent

– Specify the VAT percentage.

Tax G/L Account ID

– Specify the G/L account to be posted for this tax.

Recoverable Tax Percent

– Specify the percent of recoverable tax. This pertains only to payable

taxes.

Tax Rcv G/L Account ID

– Specify the G/L account to be posted for this tax. This account

receives a debit entry for recoverable tax amounts.

If you selected Euro VAT in the Vat Type field, specify this information:

Defining Accounting Entities

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Recoverable Tax Percent

– Specify the percent of recoverable tax. This pertains only to payable

taxes.

Tax Rcv G/L Account ID

– Specify the G/L account to be posted for this tax. When a payable

transaction is processed, this account receives a debit entry for recoverable tax amounts.

Intra-Euro Tax Percent

– Specify the Intra-Euro VAT percentage. For Intra-Euro VAT codes, this

value typically equals the value that you specified in the Recoverable Tax Percent field.

Intra-Euro Debit Tax G/L Acct ID

– Specify the account to use to process any differences

between the recoverable tax percentage and the Intra-Euro tax percentage. Since these two

percentages are typically equal, transactions against this account should be minimal.

Intra-Euro Credit Tax G/L Acct

– Specify the account to credit when a payable transaction is

processed. If the recoverable tax percentage is equal to the Intra-Euro tax percentage, you can

enter the same account in this field as you entered in the Tax Rcv G/L Account ID.

Click

Save

Specifying VAT Categories

VAT categories identify the type of item being taxed: material, service, or other. If you have selected

the VAT Categories Required check box, users are required to select a VAT category for all VAT-

related transactions.

To specify a VAT category:

Click

VAT Category Setup

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

– Specify the category ID.

Type

– Specify the type of item associated with this category. Click the arrow and specify one of

these options:

– Select

if this category is for a material.

– Select

if this category is for a service.

– Select

if this category is for other items.

Description

– Specify a description of the VAT category.

Click

Save

Using the Intrastat Tab

Intrastat is an optional feature. You must have the correct serial number to enable Intrastat. If you

have questions, please contact Infor Customer Support.

Defining Accounting Entities

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3 – 9

Intrastat is a European Community term that refers to the tracking statistics of goods manufactured

and distributed to and from EC member countries. Intrastat is intended to eliminate customer

declarations for distributors of goods who import and export within the EC.

Intrastat applies to the importation and exportation of goods. It does not apply to goods shipped within

a given member country. Only VAT registered companies are required to provide Intrastat

information.

Intrastat requires that goods sold and manufactured in the EC be tracked so that their origin and

destination is recorded in a permanent way. Periodically, each manufacturer and distributor of goods

must report the items they sold and distributed, where they were manufactured or obtained, and

where they were sent, including intermediate distribution points.

Use the VISUAL Intrastat feature to report the appropriate information to the country in which the

manufacturer operates. You can also record supporting data on which the reports are based. The

exact form and format of these reports varies from country to country. You may need edit these

reports.

Specifying Intrastat Settings

To specify Intrastat settings:

Click the

Intrastat

tab.

In the Intrastat section, specify this information:

Intrastat Enabled

– Select this check box to enable the Intrastat features. When you select this

check box, the remaining fields on the tab become available.

Review Intrastat before Saving Transaction

– To be prompted to view Intrastat information prior

to saving any transaction, select this check box.

Country ID

– Specify the Country ID of your company.

Branch ID

– Specify Branch ID of your company.

Next Sequence #

– Specify the next number for Intrastat report.

In the Report section, specify the formats of the Arrival report and the Dispatch report. The

options for the reports are the same. To specify the Arrival report format, click

Arrival Format

. To

specify the Dispatch report format, click

Dispatch Format

Specify this information:

Show

– Select the data to show on the report. You can select

Tariff Code

Excise Price

Region,

Country

Port of Arrival

Port of Transshipment

, and

Siret Number

You cannot generate a report until all of the Intrastat line items you have selected are present.

Export ID

– Specify an Export ID to generate reports to file.

Click

to exit the dialog box.

In the Frequency section, specify how often the reports are generated. Click

Monthly

Quarterly

Yearly

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click the

Save

button.

Specifying Additional Intrastat Report Information

Use the Additional Intrastat Maintenance window to specify additional Intrastat information to show on

your reports.

Note:

You must select the Intrastat Enabled check box on the Intrastat tab to display Additional

Intrastat Maintenance window.

To set up additional Intrastat information:

Select

Inventory

Intrastat Maintenance

In the header, specify the filters for the table. Specify these filters:

Site ID

– If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the Site ID arrow and select the site ID to

view in the table. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Movement Type

– Select the movement to view in the table. Click Dispatch or Arrival.

Date Range

– Use the calendar buttons to specify the time period to view in the table.

To add a new transaction using the criteria you specified in the header, click the

Insert Row

button.

Specify this information:

Reference

– Specify a short description or reference code for the transaction.

Movement Date

– Specify the date the movement takes place.

Tariff Code / Commodity Code

– Double-click the browse button and select the Tariff or

Commodity code.

Excise Price

– Specify the excise charge.

Delivery Terms

– Click the arrow and select the delivery terms for this transaction.

Nature of Trans

– Double-click the browse button and select the type of transaction.

Mode of Transport

– Double-click the browse button and select the type of transportation used.

Net Mass

– Specify the weight of the shipment.

Supplement Unit

– Specify the number of units.

To Country

– Click the browse button and select the country to which the shipment is going.

Orig Country

– Click the browse button and select the country from where the goods originally

came.

From Country

– Click the browse button and select the country from which this shipment is

shipped.

Region

– Click the browse button and select the region of the country from which this shipment is

shipped.

Defining Accounting Entities

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Port of Arrival

– Click the browse button and select the port in which this shipment will first arrive

in the country.

Port of Transshipment

– Click the browse button and select the intermediate country used

between shipping and receiving.

Number of consignments

– Specify the number of agents selling items in the shipment for the

shipper.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

Specifying ESL Information

A European Sales List (ESL) is a VAT report that is based on goods reported under Intrastat. Specify

this ESL information:

ESL Export ID

– Specify an ESL Export ID to generate reports to file.

Next Sequence #

– Specify the next number for the ESL report.

Frequency

– Specify how often to generate the report. Click one of these options:

Monthly

Quarterly

, or

Yearly

Click

Save

Entering Intrastat Codes

Use the buttons at the bottom of the Intrastat tab to specify codes used in Intrastat transactions. You

can specify these codes:

Port of Arrival

– This identifies the place where the goods are received.

Nature of Transaction

– This identifies the type of transaction, such as transfer of ownership or

return of goods.

Tariff

– This identifies the tariff applied to the transaction. This code is for identification purposes only.

It does not actually apply the tariff rate.

Country

– This identifies the countries used in Intrastat transactions.

Port of Transshipment

– This identifies the place where goods are shipped.

Mode of Transport

– This identifies the methods used to transport goods.

Region

– This identifies regions where your warehouses are located.

For all code types except Country, you specify a code and a description. For the Country code type,

you specify an ID, description, whether Intrastat is required for the country, and the Intrastat country

ID.

To specify Port of Arrival, Nature of Transaction, Tariff, Port of Transshipment, Mode of Transport,

and Region codes:

Defining Accounting Entities

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click the button that corresponds to the code you are entering. For example, click

Port of Arrival

to enter Port of Arrival codes.

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Code

– Specify a code.

Description

– Specify a description for the code.

Click

Save

Specifying Country Codes

To specify a country code:

Click

Countries...

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

– Specify a code.

Description

– Specify a description for the code.

Intrastat Required

– Select this check box to require Intrastat to be used with the country ID.

Intrastat Country

– Specify the country ID to use with Intrastat.

Click

Save

Using the Payment Tab

Use the Payment tab to specify default information for electronic payments you make to vendors.

electronic payments made to vendors. You can specify this information on the Payment tab:

• Batch number information

• Withholding information

• Cash variance information

• Source of commission payments

To specify electronic payment settings:

Click the Payment tab.

In the Next Payment Batch Sequence # field, specify the next batch number to use for payments.

If you withhold tax from your vendor payments, select the Withholding Enabled check box. Then,

specify this information:

Next Sequence #

– Enter the next sequential number to use for reporting.

Social Security No.

– Enter the company’s or individual’s social security number.

Defining Accounting Entities

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3 – 13

Summary Export ID

– Enter an Export ID for monthly summary reports.

Certificate Export ID

– Enter an Export ID for tax certificates.

In the Cash Variance section, specify this information:

Number

Percent

– Select whether to calculate cash variances by numbers or percentages.

Minimum

– Enter the smallest number or percent to report.

Maximum

– Enter the largest number or percent to report.

In the Pay Commission By section, specify the basis for commissions you pay to your sales force.

Click one of these options:

Cash Receipt

– Click this option to generate commissions when you receive payment from the

customer.

Invoice/Invoice Date

– Click this option to generate commissions based on the accounts

receivable invoice.

Click

Save

to save the information.

Using the Order Management Tab

Use the Order Mgt tab to specify default information for your customer order management. In the

Order Mgt tab, you can:

• Enable WIP/VAS. WIP/VAS (work in process/value-added service) is typically used in conjunction

with VISUAL DCMS.

• Specify allocation behavior

• Specify the default shipping weight unit of measure

• Specify the default back order fill rate

• Specify order management codes

To specify this information:

Click the

Order Mgt

tab.

Select the

WIP/VAS Enabled

check box to enable WIP/VAS functions.

Parts that make up an order may require extra services before they are shipped to a customer or

transferred to another warehouse. For example, parts in an order may require price tag printing

and application. These activities are work in process (WIP) activities.

In certain cases, employees in the distribution center may need to provide additional services

before a product is shipped. These activities are value-added services (VAS).

Note:

You cannot use WIP/VAS if you do not have an Order Management enabled serial number.

Specify allocation settings. Depending on your selections, certain options become available or

unavailable. Select from these options:

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Allocations Require Warehouse/Location

– To allow users to allocate supply and assign

demand without specifying a warehouse or a location, clear this check box. To require supply

allocations and demand assignments to have a warehouse ID and location ID before they can be

linked to transactions, select this check box. When you select this check box:

• You must supply a Warehouse ID for purchase and customer orders before you save the

order.

• You can enter a new work order and add material requirements and operations, but you

cannot allocate work order quantities to demand or allocate supply to material requirements.

This setting does not apply to interbranch transfers (IBTs).

When you select the Allocations Require Warehouse/Location check box, the Auto Allocate check

box and the Requirement Allocation Level options become available.

Requirement Allocation Level

– These options become active when you select the Allocations

Require Warehouse/Location check box. Use the requirement allocation level to determine if

materials must be allocated to work orders before the work order can be firmed or released. Click

one of these options:

Full

– Click this option to require all materials to be allocated to the work order before the

work order can be firmed or released.

Partial

– Click this option to optionally allow required materials to be allocated to a work order

before the work order can be firmed or released. When you click this option, a work order can

be released without materials allocated.

None

– Click this option if you do not require materials to be allocated to a work order before

it can be released.

Auto Allocate

– To automatically allocate supply to demand, select this check box. You cannot

select the Auto Allocate option unless you have selected the Allocations Require Warehouse/

Location option.

Customer Order Allocation

– When you select the Auto Allocate option, the Customer Order

Allocation Level section becomes active. Use the customer order allocation level to determine if

materials must be allocated to customer orders before the orders can be placed. Click one of

these options:

Full

– Click this option to require all materials to be allocated to customer orders before the

orders can be placed.

Partial

– Click this option to optionally allow required materials to be allocated to customer

orders before the orders can be placed. When you click this option, a customer order can be

placed without materials allocated.

None

– Click this option if you do not require materials to be allocated to a customer order

before it can be placed.

In the Default Shipping Weight UM field, click the browse button and specify the unit of measure

to use for weight shipment in the Order Management Window.

In the Default Back Order Fill Rate field, specify the default fill rate to use for customer back

orders.

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The back order fill rate is a number between 0 and 100 that indicates the minimum percentage of

available stock that must be allocated to the customer if a back order balance remains on a

customer order. For example, an order fill rate of 100 for a C/O line for 1,000 back-ordered parts,

produces a minimum fill rate quantity of 1,000; an order fill rate of 80 for a C/O line of 1,000

produces a minimum fill rate quantity of 800. For more information on Customer fill rates, refer to

the “Shipping Entry” chapter.

Click the

Save

button.

Maintaining Order Management Codes

Use the buttons in the Maintenance section to access these Order Management codes:

• Priority Codes

• Customer Order Types

• WIP/VAS Codes

• Customer Types

• HTS Codes

• Part Alias Types

The codes you specify in the Order Management tab apply to all of your accounting entities, not just

the selected accounting entity.

Specifying Priority Codes

Use priority codes to determine what percentage of available stock can be used to fill a customer

order. Assign a priority code to a customer in Customer Maintenance.

To set up priority codes:

Click

Priority Codes

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Priority Code

– Specify a code.

SKU Rate

– Specify the percentage of available stock that can be allocated to a customer with

this code. Specify a number between 0 and 100.

Description

– Specify a description of the code.

Click

Save

Entering Customer Order Types

Use customer order types to classify the orders you place in the Order Management window.

Defining Accounting Entities

3 – 16

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

To specify customer order types:

Click

Customer Order Types

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Order Type

– Specify the order type.

Description

– Specify a description of the order type.

Click

Save

Specifying WIP/VAS IDs

Your license key governs your access to WIP/VAS functionality. Contact your Infor Global Solutions

sales associate for more information.

Note:

Before you can enter WIP/VAS information, you must select the

WIP/VAS Enabled

check box.

If WIP/VAS is not enabled, none of the WIP/VAS features apply to allocation and the features for

maintaining and using WIP/VAS are not visible.

WIP/VAS (Work In Process/Value Added Services) are customization services that you perform on

inventory. While not completely manufacturing in nature, WIP/VAS requires the management of

inventory moving in and out of service sections in a warehouse. WIP/VAS starts during order entry,

when a customer requests one of these specialized services. WIP/VAS is only for warehouses or

distribution centers with the capability to manage the services. WIP/VAS specifications are also

available at the customer order line level.

Use the WIP/VAS dialog box to specify the WIP/VAS tasks that can be performed on inventory.

To specify WIP/VAS tasks:

Click

WIP/VAS

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

WIP/VAS ID

– Specify an ID for the WIP/VAS you perform on a part.

Description

– Specify a description of the ID.

Unit Price

– Specify the price per unit for the WIP/VAS activity.

Click

Save

Entering Customer Types

The customer types dialog box becomes available when you select the

Allocation Require

Warehouse/Location

check box.

Defining Accounting Entities

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

3 – 17

Customers have different order requirements. Some customers may have complex order fulfillment

schedules to which they must adhere. Others may have specific allocation needs at one warehouse,

or various warehouses scattered across the country. Assign ranks to customers according to the

degree of their order fulfillment requirements.

Assign types to customers in Customer Maintenance.

To specify customer types:

Click

Customer Types...

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Type

– Specify the ID for this customer type.

Description

– Specify a description for this customer type.

Priority

– Specify the priority for this customer type. The priority is used to sort customers during

the allocation process. The lower the number, the higher the priority of customer.

Allocation Fence

– Specify a numeric allocation fence for this priority. An Allocation Fence is

used to determine which orders are considered by the Allocation Utility. If an order’s required ship

date is outside the allocation fence, the order is ignored during the allocation process.

Reallocate

– To remove existing allocations when the Allocation Utility is run a second time,

select the

Reallocate

check box. To retain existing allocations when the Allocation Utility is run a

second time, clear this check box.

Auto Allocate

– To automatically create allocations for this customer type, select the

Auto

Allocate

check box.

Allocation Level

– Click the arrow and specify the allocation level to use. You can select:

None

– No allocation is made.

Partial Allocation

– This selection allows you to allocate supply to the work order

requirement, but makes allocation optional.

Full Allocation

– This selection requires you to make sure that work order requirements have

allocated supply before you firm or release the requirement.

Click

Save

Entering Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Codes

Use HTS codes when shipping to and receiving from international locations.

To enter Harmonization codes:

Select

Maintain

Harmonization Codes

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

HTS Code

– Specify a unique identifier for the code.

Defining Accounting Entities

3 – 18

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Description

– Specify a description for this code.

Duty %

– Specify the duty percentage for this code.

To specify duty percentages by country, click

Duty by Country

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Country of Origin

– Specify the country that has a specific duty percentage.

Duty %

– Specify the duty percentage.

Click

Save

Click

Save

Specifying Part Alias Types

Part aliases are alternate names for part IDs. Use Part Alias types to classify the alternate names you

use.

To specify part alias types:

Click

Part Alias Types...

Click the

Insert

button.

Specify this information:

Part Alias Type

– Specify the part alias type.

Description

– Specify a description of the part alias type.

Using the Defaults Tab

Use the Defaults tab to specify requisition approval group names, how purchase requisition approval

tasks are generated, and requisition rejection codes.

To specify this information:

Click the

Defaults

tab.

In each of the Approval Label fields, specify the label to display on the Approval tab of the

Purchase Requisition Entry window.

To generate all purchase requisition approval tasks for groups simultaneously, select the

Generate All Tasks Simultaneously

check box. To generate approval tasks in sequential order,

clear the check box. When you clear the check box, the first group must approve the purchase

requisition before the second group’s approval tasks are generated.

To require users to enter passwords for fields you have secured, select the

Passwords Required

for Secured Fields

check box.

Defining Accounting Entities

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

3 – 19

To create one batch per transaction when you post to the general ledger, select the

Create

Financial Batches with Only One Transaction

. If you post multiple transactions to the general

ledger at the same time, a batch is created for each transaction. Clear this check box to create

one batch for all transactions in the posting.

In the AP/AR Cash Management section, specify the default bank accounts to use for this entity.

You can override the defaults on individual transactions. Specify this information:

Cash Receipt Default Bank Acc

t – Click the browse button and select the default account to use

for cash receipts. You can select any bank account associated with the current entity.

Cash Payment Default Bank Acct

– Click the browse button and select the default account to

use for payments. You can select any bank account associated with the current entity.

In the Customer Balance Method section, specify how to calculated the customer’s open balance.

Click one of these options:

Orders, uninvoiced shipments and unpaid invoices

– Click this option to calculate the

customer’s open balance as the total of open orders, uninvoiced shipments, and unpaid invoices.

Uninvoiced shipments and unpaid invoices

– Click this option to calculate the customer’s open

balance as the total of uninvoiced shipments and unpaid invoices. Open customer orders are

excluded from the calculation.

Unpaid A/R Invoices

– Click this option to calculate the customer’s open balance as the total of

unpaid accounts receivable invoices only.

Click

Save

Specifying Task Rejection Codes

Before creating any purchase requisitions, add the rejection codes to use to your database. Rejection

codes help you classify rejected purchase requisition tasks.

Purchase Requisition Entry and ECN Entry share a common Rejection Code table. This feature is

available from both the ECN tab in Site Maintenance and the Default tab in Accounting Entity

Maintenance.

Click

Rejection Codes

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Code

– Specify an identifier for the rejection code.

Description

– Specify a description for this code.

Click

Save

Defining Accounting Entities

3 – 20

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Site Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 1

Chapter 4: Site Maintenance

This chapter describes these topics:

Topics

What are Sites? .............................................................................................................................. 4–2

Accessing Site Maintenance........................................................................................................... 4–3

Creating a Site ................................................................................................................................ 4–4

Assigning Existing Parts, Resources, Services, and Employees to Sites .................................... 4–20

Setting Service Charge Defaults................................................................................................... 4–22

What are Sites?

4 – 2

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What are Sites?

Sites are specific physical locations that have their own parts, services, shop resources, and

warehouses. Database users and employees are assigned to specific sites. Most of the transactions

you enter are at the site level.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, you can set up different information for each site. If you are

licensed to use a single site, then you can set up information for your single site in Site Maintenance.

To set up basic information about sites, use Site Maintenance. You can:

• Create sites

• Set up general information, such as the site address, default packlist status, repetitive

manufacturing information, part location on the fly information, part warehouse on the fly

information, and issue negative information

• Set up scheduling information

• Set up shipment tracking information, such as shipment reason codes, default shipping label

information, and the partial shipments with pre-invoiced orders setting

• Set up ECN information

• Set up inventory and labor defaults, inspections defaults, and default project warehouse

information

• Assign existing parts, services, and shop resources to the site

• Maintain calendar exceptions

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, the system administrator can assign the site to database

users. Assigned sites are referred to as allowable sites. Database users can choose which of their

allowable sites they want to use. The sites database users choose to use are referred to as viewable

sites. If you are licensed to use a single site, all users should be assigned to the single site.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, you also assign sites to employees in Employee

Maintenance. Employees can enter labor tickets for any site they are allowed to use. If you are

licensed to use a single site, all employees should be assigned to the single site.

Accessing Site Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 3

Accessing Site Maintenance

To access Site Maintenance, select

Admin

Site Maintenance

Creating a Site

4 – 4

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Creating a Site

Each site belongs to an accounting entity. Accounting entities can have multiple sites, but each site

can belong to only one entity.

If you upgraded from a previous version, you defined one accounting entity ID for each of your

financial entities during the upgrade process. Each financial entity ID becomes a site ID in the

upgraded database.

If you have not exceeded the maximum number of sites allowed by your license, you can create

additional sites.

Before you can create a site, you must define its parent accounting entity. The accounting entity must

have an entity currency assigned to it.

To create a site:

Click

New

Click the

Entity ID

arrow and select the parent accounting entity for the site you are creating.

In the Site ID field, specify a Site ID. We recommend that you

do not

use single quotations (‘),

forward slashes (/), or commas (,) in your site ID. Using these characters may result in reduced

site selection functionality in reports and cause issues with integrations to other products through

Infor10 Ion.

Click

Save

Specifying General Site Information

Use the General tab to define basic information about your site.

Click the

General

tab.

Specify the site’s address in the address fields.

If you are licensed to use a single site, the address you define in Application Global Maintenance

is used in the system. You do not have to specify a site address.

In the Packlists section, specify the default status for this site’s packlists. Specify one of these

values:

– (Shipped) Packlists are not invoiced or shipped.

1, 2, or 3 Review

– Packlists must be reviewed.

– Approved for Invoicing.

In the Repetitive section, specify information to use in the Material Planning Window. Specify this

information:

Demand Fence 1 and 2

– Demand fences are used in conjunction with MRP. The values you

specify in this section are used to order parts if the part has an order policy of Master Schedule,

and the demand fence is not defined on the part’s record or on the product code for the part. The

value is in days.

Creating a Site

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 5

Use Fence 1 as MRP Frozen Period

– To prevent planned orders from being created during the

demand fence period, select this check box. When you select this check box, planned orders

cannot be created within the demand fence time period. Planned orders are generated after the

time specified in demand fence 1 elapses. By using a frozen demand fence, you can prevent

planned order from being generated in a time frame that is too short to actually supply the

product.

Clear this check box to allow planned orders to be generated at any time.

In the Part Location on the Fly section, select one of these options:

Not Allowed

– Select this option to prevent part locations from being assigned on the fly. You can

only use existing part/location associations. You cannot create new part/location associations or

unique warehouse locations at the time of transaction. With this setting, you must establish part/

location associations using the Part Maintenance window or the Part Location Creator.

Assign Existing Location to Part

– Select this option to allow users to assign an existing

warehouse location to a part (an association that previously did not exist) at the time of a

transaction. The warehouse location and part must already exist.

Create New Location and Assign to Part

– Select this option to allow users to create a new

warehouse location and assign it to a part, thereby creating a valid part/location association at the

time of the transaction. The warehouse must already exist.

The part location on the fly setting applies to transactions created using:

• Inventory Transaction Entry (VMINVMNT.EXE)

This applies when you receive, issue, adjust, and transfer (only in To Warehouse Locations)

part quantities and must specify a warehouse location into which you are receiving,

transferring, issuing, or adjusting.

• Purchase Receipt Entry (VMRCVMNT.EXE)

This applies when you are receiving a purchase order quantity at a warehouse and can

specify a location within the warehouse at the time of receipt.

• Shipping Entry (VMSHPENT.EXE) (returns only)

This applies when you are receiving a returned customer shipment at a warehouse and can

specify a location within the warehouse at the time of return receipt.

• Physical Inventory Count (VMPHYINV.EXE)

This applies when you are conducting part counts and recounts within warehouses and can

specify a location.

• Interbranch Transfer Shipping Entry (VMIBTSHP.EXE)

This applies when you are shipping an IBT from one warehouse (From Whse ID) location to

another (To Whse ID) and can specify from which location to ship the parts.

• Interbranch Transfer Receipts Entry (VMIBTRCV.EXE)

This applies when you are receiving an IBT into a warehouse location (To Whse ID) and can

specify into which location to receive the transfer.

When you create a new part/location association, you are prompted to specify a Hold Reason

ID, Description, and a Status for the part in the new Warehouse Location.

Creating a Site

4 – 6

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

In the Part Warehouse on the Fly section, select the Prevent Warning Message to prevent a

warning message from displaying when you create a new Part Location on the fly. This check box

is not available if you selected the Not Allowed option in the Part/Location on the Fly section.

In the Issue Negative section, select from these combinations:

Warehouse cleared, Location cleared

– Use this combination to prevent both locations and

warehouses from reaching a negative quantity.

Warehouse selected, Location selected

– Select both check boxes to allow individual

warehouse locations to reach a negative quantity and to allow the warehouse to reach a negative

quantity as well. The system behaves in the same manner as it does if you select only the

Warehouse check box.

Warehouse cleared, Location selected

– Use this combination to allow warehouse locations to

reach a negative quantity, but to prevent the warehouse from reaching a negative quantity. If you

select this combination, a particular warehouse location can reach a negative quantity provided

that the material is available in another location in the warehouse.

Warehouse selected, Location cleared

– If you select this combination, neither warehouses nor

locations are allowed to reach a negative quantity.

Auto Issue locations are exempt and are allowed to reach negative quantities regardless of the

setting.

Allocations are not considered. The system only considers quantity on hand when determining

whether the location reaches a negative quantity.

Select the

Allocate Negative

check box to allocate demand even though it may cause a negative

balance.

Use the Prevent Negative Backdating check box to determine how to examine current inventory

when a backdated inventory transaction is generated in Inventory Transaction Entry, Shipping

Entry, Receiving Entry, or IBT Shipping Entry. If you select this check box, then the quantity you

had on hand on the date of the transaction is used to determine inventory levels. If you did not

have sufficient quantity on the date of the transaction, then the transaction cannot be completed.

For example, say you enter an adjust out inventory transaction on January 5 for 10 units, but you

specify January 3 as the transaction date. If you only had 8 units in your inventory on January 3,

then you are prevented from completing the backdated transaction if you select the Prevent

Negative Backdating check box.

If you clear the Prevent Negative Backdating check box, then the quantity you have on hand on

the date you enter the transaction is used to determine inventory levels. For example, say you

enter an adjust out inventory transaction on January 5 for 10 units, but you specify January 3 as

the transaction date. If you have 10 units on hand on January 5, then you can complete the

transaction, even if you did not have 10 units on hand on January 3. When you clear the Prevent

Negative Backdating check box, you can generate negative inventory balances for past dates,

even though you do not allow negative inventory balances for current dates.

If VISUAL is integrated to Infor Quality Management®, select the Enable check box in the Infor

Quality Management Interface section. Specify this information:

Always Use/Query Use

– After an ECN is ready to be implemented, you click the Start button in

ECN Entry. These options determine the result of clicking the Start button. If you click Always

Use, then IQM is always launched when you click the Start button in ECN Entry. If you click Query

Creating a Site

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 7

Use, then you are prompted to choose to open the appropriate IQM maintenance window or to

open the appropriate VISUAL maintenance window. For example, if the ECN is for a document,

you can choose to open IQM Document Maintenance or VISUAL Document Maintenance.

Application Path

– Specify the default URL for IQM. This is the URL you access to sign into IQM.

Configuration

– Specify the IQM configuration to sign into.

Use VE User

– To pass the currently signed in VISUAL user ID to the IQM sign in window, select

this check box. If the user is already signed into IQM, then IQM can be accessed directly from

VISUAL. The user does not have to sign into IQM again. If the user is not currently signed into

IQM, then the user ID is passed to the IQM sign in window. The user must supply a password. To

require users to always sign into IQM, clear this check box.

Click

Save

Specifying Site Scheduling Information

Use the Scheduling tab to define the default shop calendar for the site. The weekly shop calendar

defines standard workday and shift information for your plant. The Global Scheduler uses this

information when producing a shop schedule. You can define calendars specific to a particular

schedule or individual shop resource. Where neither of these are defined, the calendar specified here

is used. This calendar should therefore define the default work week. Exceptions for holidays and

different work center schedules are handled elsewhere.

If you are licensed to use a single site, set up scheduling information in Application Global

Maintenance.

Click the

Scheduling

tab.

In the Production Schedule section, click Define Production Schedule and specify this

information:

– Specify an ID for the production schedule.

Description

– Specify a description for the production schedule.

Note:

You can also specify a default production schedule ID for the site when you access the

Global Scheduler. If you have not yet defined the default production schedule ID for a site, when

you access the Global Scheduler you will be prompted to define the ID and description for each

site that does not have a default production schedule ID.

In the table, specify this information:

1st Shift Start

– Enter the starting time for the first shift for each day of the week. By default, the

first shift starts in the morning (AM).

Shift 1, Shift 2, Shift 3

– For each day that has at least one shift, specify the length in hours of

each shift. If a shift is not worked, enter a 0.

The totals of the three shifts cannot exceed 24 hours.

Creating a Site

4 – 8

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

First Shift is the period of hours starting at the 1st Shift Start time and ending after the specified

number of hours in the shift. Second shift follows immediately after the first shift and ends after

the specified number of hours. Third shift is immediately after the second shift; it ends after the

specified number of hours.

For example, if you specify a shift start of 7:00:00 AM, a first shift length of 8 hours, a second shift

length of 8 hours, and a third shift length of 4 hours, first shift is 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, second shift

is 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and third shift begins at 11:00 PM and runs until 3:00 AM.

Use the check boxes to define scheduling parameters. The selections you make apply to all

schedules for the site. Select one or more of these options:

Treat All Release Dates as Hard in All Schedules

– To schedule all work orders based on their

hard release dates, select this check box. If you select this check box, the Concurrent Scheduler

schedules no activity on any work orders in any schedule before the work order’s hard release

date, which you specify when you create the work order. If you select this check box, the Treat

release date as hard check box on individual work orders is not available.

To decide whether to treat the release date as hard on a work order by work order basis, clear this

check box. When you clear this check box, the Treat release date as hard check box becomes

available on individual work orders. If you clear the Treat release date as hard check box on an

individual work order, the release date is disregarded, and the work order is scheduled as time

and materials allow.

Use All Supply Before Applying Lead-time in Material Checks

– To consider material supply

beyond work orders’ required dates, select this check box. When you select this check box, the

scheduler ignores a work order’s required date when locating material supply. When sufficient

supply is located, the work order is scheduled. If sufficient supply cannot be located, then the

material’s lead time is used to determine when the work order can be scheduled.

If you select this check box, then all parts in the site will use all supply before applying lead time.

You cannot override the setting on the part record.

To consider material supply only up to the work order’s required date, clear this check box. When

you clear this check box, the scheduler does not look beyond the required date for supply when

there is insufficient supply at the required date. In this case, it applies the part’s or requirement’s

lead time to determine if sufficient supply can be

obtained by the required date, or to determine

hen it can obtain sufficient supply.

If you clear the check box in Site Maintenance, you can specify on a part-by-part basis which

setting to use. In Part Maintenance, use the Supply Before Leadtime check box specify whether

or not to use the work order’s required date when assessing supply.

The Concurrent Scheduler considers purchase orders, purchase order delivery schedules,

Coproducts, work orders, and, if netting planned orders, planned orders, as supply.

Use Global Calendar and Exceptions for Fabricated Parts

– To take calendar exceptions into

account when calculating availability dates for your fabricated parts, select this check box. By

using this setting you can specify the dates you do not want to use in calculations. Clear the

check box to ignore calendar exceptions.

Use Global Calendar and Exceptions for Release Dates

– To take calendar exceptions into

account when calculating release dates, select this check box. By using this setting you can

specify the dates you do not want to use in calculations. Clear the check box to ignore calendar

exceptions.

Creating a Site

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 9

In the Scheduling Notch size section, specify the notch size for the schedule. To set the notch size

to one second, select the One second check box. When you select this option, the In Minutes field

is unavailable. To set the notch size in minutes, clear the One second check box, then specify a

notch size in the In minutes field. You can specify any whole number from 1 to 6; for example,

specify 2 for a notch size of two minutes. You can also specify 10 for a notch size of 10 minutes.

Click

Save

Specifying Calendar Exceptions

In some instances, you may need to change a normal shift day. In these cases, you can define an

exception for the calendar. For example, use the exception table to define holidays.

If you have multiple sites, you can import the calendar exceptions in Application Global Maintenance

into the calendar exceptions you define in Site Maintenance.

Select

Maintain

Calendar Exceptions

In the Site ID field, click the arrow and select the site for which you are defining calendar

exceptions.

Click

Insert

Specify the start date and end date for the exception. For example, if the resource will not be

available on January 1, 2012, enter 1/1/12 for the start and end date.

Specify the time that the First shift starts.

Enter the shift duration for the exception. If the shift is not to work at all, specify zero (0) in that

shift’s column.

The scheduler uses the information you enter here to adjust the normal weekly calendar setting

for the date of the exception, thereby giving an accurate estimation of resource availability.

Click

Save

You can modify and add information to the Shop Calendar and Exception Days Table at any time.

The changes take effect the next time you run the Global Scheduler.

Copying Global Exceptions

You can copy the calendar exceptions set up in Application Global Maintenance to the site. To copy

calendar exceptions:

In the Site ID field, click the arrow and select the site for which you are defining calendar

exceptions.

Click

Copy from global exceptions

Click

Save

Creating a Site

4 – 10

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Specifying Shipment Tracking Information

Shipment Tracking is primarily for European users who need to be able to produce appropriate

shipping documentation for materials that they may be holding off-site, are in transit to some other

location—a customer or another warehouse—or that they are returning to a vendor.

To specify shipment tracking information:

Click the

Shipment Trk

tab.

To enable the shipment tracking function, select the

Shipment tracking enabled

check box.

When you select this check box, you can print transportation document in these applications:

• Shipping Entry

• Service Dispatch Entry

• Interbranch Transfer Entry

• Interbranch Shipping Entry

When you select this check box, the Shipment Reason Codes section Maintenance section

become available.

Clear the check box if you do not use shipment tracking.

If you selected the Shipment tracking enabled check box, specify this information:

Shipment Reason Codes

– This section is available only if you select the Shipment tracking

enabled check box. Click one option:

Required

– Select this option if users must supply a reason code to print a transportation

document.

Optional

– Select this option if users can print a transportation document without supplying a

reason code.

Maintenance

– Click Ship Reason Codes... to define reason codes for your shipping documents.

Specify this information:

Shipment Type

– Click the arrow and select one of these types:

Shipment

– Select this option to classify the shipment as a shipment of goods to an outside

location.

Inventory Transfer

– Select this option to classify the shipment as a transfer of inventory

between locations.

Service Dispatch

– Select this option to classify the shipment as a service dispatch.

Purchase Return

– Select this option to classify the shipment as a purchase return.

Reason Code

– Specify a unique reason code ID.

GL Account ID

– Specify an account ledger to assign to this Ship Reason Code.

Default Warehouse ID

– Specify the ID for the warehouse to use for this code.

In the Default Shipping Label field, click the Default Shipping Label browse button and select the

default label format.

Creating a Site

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 11

To allow the deletion of packlists with ship dates in closed or locked periods, select the

Allow

Deletion of Packlists in Closed or Locked Periods

check box. When you select this check box,

any packlist can be deleted provided that no invoices have been created for the packlist. Clear the

check box to allow packlists to be deleted only if the ship date is in an open period.

In the Partial Shipments with Pre-invoiced Orders section, select one option:

Create memo with excess balance

– Select this option if you would like to create a memo for

any excess amount from pre-invoices or progress billings when customer orders are partially

shipped. For example, if the customer has been pre-invoiced for $300 for a certain quantity of a

part, and you have shipped $200 worth, then the system generates a memo worth $100 for the

customer's account.

Retain excess balance for future shipments

– Select this option if you would like to retain the

excess amount that a customer has been pre-invoiced or has been progress billed. The system

behaves differently depending on if you pre-invoice the customer or progress bill the customer.

If you progress bill the customer, the system considers the amount to apply on a line-by-line

basis. For example, if the customer has a progress billing invoice for $300 for a certain quantity of

a part on line 1 of the customer order, and you have shipped $200 worth, then the system retains

the $100 to apply to a future shipment of the same part on line 1 of the customer order.

If you create the pre-invoice in Accounts Receivable Invoice Entry, then the grand total of the

customer order is considered when the system determines the amount to refund or apply to a

future shipment. The individual lines are not considered.

If you close the customer order or a line short prior to consuming all of a pre-invoice amount, the

user must manually generate a memo to offset the remaining balance of the pre-invoice.

If you select this option, certain options may be disabled in Invoice Forms. If at least one

customer order has been partially shipped and has a pre-invoice applied to it, the system disables

the Create A/R Invoices, Combine All Packlists for an Order on One Invoice, and Combine All

Packlists for a Customer on One Invoice options. You can re-activate these options by generating

invoices for pre-invoiced orders with partial shipments. To identify these orders, print the List of

Pre-Invoiced Orders with Partial Shipments report. Then, use the Generate/Print One Invoice

option available on the File menu to generate an invoice for each order in the List of Pre-Invoiced

Orders with Partial Shipments report. After you generate each invoice, the system reactivates the

Create A/R Invoices, Combine All Packlists for an Order on One Invoice, and Combine All

Packlists for a Customer on One Invoice options.

Click

Save

Specifying ECN Information

If you use Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) to control changes in your manufacturing processes,

use the ECN tab to specify settings for ECN control.

Click the

ECN

tab.

Specify these settings:

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Modify ECNs with an on-hold status

– To allow users to modify ECNs with an on-hold status,

select this check box. Clear this check box to prevent users from modifying ECNs with an on-hold

status.

Passwords required for secured fields

– To require users to enter a password when they enter

data or change the status of secured fields, select this check box. This functionality provides you

with electronic signature capability. To allow users to modify secured fields without entering a

password, clear this check box.

Generate all tasks simultaneously

– To generate tasks for members of all of your ECN teams at

the same time when you change the ECN’s status from Undefined, select this check box. Clear

this check box to generate tasks for only the first non-completed team. For example,

Implementation team members will not receive tasks until Authorization team members have all

signed off on their tasks.

Lock new engineering change notifications

– To automatically lock all new ECNs, select this

check box.

Allow application of ECN to unreported ops/reqs to in-process work orders

– To apply ECNs

to work order that are already in process, select this check box. ECNs will be applied provided

that labor has not already been reported or material issued to the operations and requirements

affected by the ECN. For example: you have an engineering master with operations A, B, and C.

You enter an ECN that affects operation B.

In one work order based on the engineering master, a labor ticket has already been entered

against operation B. In this case, the ECN would not be applied to the work order. In another work

order based on the engineering master, labor had been reported to operation A but not to

operation B. In this case, the ECN would be applied.

If the ECN update has any impact on a requirement or operation that has actual labor or material

issues, the work order will not be updated. For example, if an ECN changes a quantity per on a

leg header card, the work order will not be updated If labor or materials have been applied under

the leg.

If you select this check box, ECNs will not be applied to split work orders or work orders with

active demand supply links.

Clear the check box if you do not want the system to apply ECNs to any in-process work order.

One active ECN per part

– Select this check box to allow only one active ECN per part master.

Clear this check box to allow multiple ECNs to be applied to a single part master.

One active ECN per document

– Select this check box to allow only one active ECN per

document. Clear this check box to allow multiple ECNs to be applied to a document.

One active ECN per work order

– Select this check box to allow only one active ECN per work

order. Clear this check box to allow multiple ECNs to be applied to a work order.

One active ECN per engineering master

– Select this check box to allow only one active ECN

per engineering master. Clear this check box to allow multiple ECNs to be applied to an

engineering master.

One Active ECN per project

– Select this check box to allow only one active ECN per project.

Clear this check box to allow multiple ECNs to be applied to a project.

Click

Save

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4 – 13

Entering and Deleting Maintenance Codes

Use the buttons in the Maintenance section to access these ECN codes:

• Types

• Dispositions

• Reasons

• Rejection Codes

Entering Maintenance Codes

Note:

Use the same method to enter and delete information for all ECN maintenance dialog boxes.

To enter ECN maintenance codes:

Click the button for the maintenance code to enter. For example, to enter Disposition codes, click

the

Dispositions

button.

Click

Insert

Enter the code and a description for that code.

Click

Save

Deleting Maintenance Codes

To delete maintenance codes:

Open the maintenance table that contains the code to delete.

Select the line item to delete.

Click

Delete

An X is displayed in the row header indicating you have marked it for deletion.

Click

Save

Specifying Defaults

The settings you specify on this tab apply to several areas of your site.

Click the

Defaults

tab.

In the Inventory/Labor section, select these options:

Autogen Labor During Receipt

– Select this check box to backflush labor when you receive a

work order into inventory or when you ship a customer order that is linked to a work order.

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

If you clear this check box, then backflushing is triggered in labor entry only. If you clear this check

box, then the last operation in a work order must not use an auto-reporting resource. You cannot

manually report labor to an auto-reporting resource.

Default Employee

– If you selected the Autogen Labor During Receipt check box, specify the ID

of the employee to use on labor tickets that are generated when you ship a customer order that is

linked to a work order.

Backflush Subordinate Legs

– Select this option to backflush labor to subordinate legs. In

addition to selecting this check box, you must also specify an auto-reporting resource on the last

operation in the leg to initiate the backflush of legs.

Generate Labor Tickets During Backflush

– Select this check box to generate labor tickets for

operations that have been backflushed. The costs that are specified on the Costs tab of the

operation are used to determine the labor costs.

Clear this check box if you do not want to generate labor tickets for backflushed operations. If you

clear this check box, then backflushed operations do not have any labor costs.

Require Issue Reason for All Issues

– To require reason codes for every material issue you

enter, select this check box.

Require Issue Reason for All Issue Returns

– To require reason codes for every material return

you enter, select this check box.

Percent complete

– To report quantities based on percentage complete instead of quantity

complete, select this check box. If you select this check box, then quantities for all run operations

that you create for this site are reported as a percentage. These changes are made:

• In Labor Ticket Entry, Qty Remaining and Qty Completed labels are replaced with Percent

Remaining and Percent Completed labels.

• In Wedge Barcode Labor Entry, Op Qty Completed, Op Qty Remaining, and Op Qty

Remaining labels are replaced with Op Prcnt Complete, Op Prcnt Remaining, and Percent

Completed prompts.

• In ALTS, the Quantity Completed prompt is replaced by a Percent Completed prompt.

If you clear this check box, you can set up whether to report labor quantities as percentages on

individual work orders or operations.

Require Deviation Reason for Deviated Quantities

– To require reason codes for every

deviation quantity you enter during labor ticket entry, select this check box.

Require Adjustment Reason for All Adjust Ins

– To require reason codes for all of your

inventory adjust ins, select this check box.

Require Adjustment Reason for All Adjust Outs

– To require reason codes for all of your

inventory adjust outs, select this check box.

Require Transfer Reason for All Transfers

– To require reason codes for all inventory transfer

transactions, select this check box.

Quantity Complete by Hours

– To automatically calculate quantity complete or percentage of

completion based on the hours reported on the labor ticket, select this check box.

If you report labor based on quantity complete, then this calculation is made to determine the

quantity completed during the labor ticket:

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 15

(hours reported on ticket/total estimated hours for operation) * operation quantity

If you report labor based on percentage complete, then this calculation is made to determine the

percentage:

(hours reported on ticket/estimated hours for operation) * 100

The operation is automatically closed when the quantity or percentage complete equals or

exceeds the operation quantity.

If you select the Quantity Complete by Hours check box in Site Maintenance, then all run type

labor transactions in the site are automatically calculated.

Max Percent Completed

– If you selected the Quantity Complete by Hours check box, use this

field to specify the maximum percentage that can be calculated automatically. When the

percentage complete meets the threshold that you specify, automatic calculation of quantity

complete is stopped. The operation remains on your schedule until the operation is manually

closed. This formula is used to calculate the number of hours for the operation that remain on

your schedule:

((100 - value specified in Max Percent Completed field)/100) * total hours required for the

operation

If you specify a value in this field, then automatic calculation of labor on all operations in the site

will stop at the value that you specify.

If you are integrated with Infor Quality Management, specify settings in the Inspections section.

Select these options:

Require Completed Inspections on Labor Tickets

– To require users to select the Quality Data

Collection Complete check box in the Labor Ticket Entry window before they can save the labor

ticket, select the Require Complete Inspections on Labor Tickets check box.

Require Completed Inspections for Return/Release

– To require users to select the Quality

Data Collection Complete check box in the Receiving Inspection dialog box of the Purchase

Receipt Entry window, select the Require Completed Inspections for Return/Release check box.

If you are licensed to use Projects functionality, in the Projects section specify the default

warehouse to use as the basis for your project warehouses.

You can specify a default internal customer ID to use when this site buys items from another site.

Click the

Default Internal Customer ID

browse button and select the customer ID to use.

You can override the default setting on the purchase order.

In Vendor Maintenance, you can set up a list of buyers who are not allowed to purchase materials

from a particular vendor. These buyers are excluded buyers. If you create a purchasing document

for that vendor, you cannot specify an excluded buyer in the Buyer ID field. In the Vendor

Exclusion Mode section, specify the purchasing information an excluded buyer can access. Click

one of these options:

Exclude buyers from using vendor

– Click this option to prevent the use of an excluded buyer

on a purchasing document. If the excluded buyer is a user, the buyer can still create and edit

purchasing documents, but cannot be the buyer specified on the document.

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Exclude users and buyers from using vendor

– If an excluded buyer is also a database user,

click this option to prevent the buyer from creating any purchasing documents for vendors that the

buyers are not allowed to use. Users can still view purchasing documents from any vendor. To

prevent excluded buyers from editing purchasing documents for vendors they are not allowed to

use, select the

Read only mode for excluded vendor documents

In the Auto Issue Method section, click one of these options:

Based on Operation Qty Complete

– Click this option to auto-issue material requirements

incrementally based on the quantity or percent completed on each labor ticket. For example,

presume that the operation is for a quantity of 5 and the Qty Per for the material requirement is 1.

If a quantity of 2 is completed on a labor ticket, then 2 units of the material requirement are issued

(presuming that there is no fixed scrap or deviated quantity). If an operation is closed before all

quantities are completed, then the material requirement is also closed short.

Based on the Full Requirement Qty on First Labor Ticket

– Click this option to auto-issue the

full material requirement quantity after the first labor ticket is reported for the operation. If you

backflush labor without creating labor tickets, then the full material requirement is issued after the

first quantity is backflushed.

Depending on how you set up Preferences Maintenance, the issued quantity can include fixed

scrap and extra materials for deviated quantities that are reported on the first labor ticket.

If a labor ticket has already been created for the operation or a quantity has already been

backflushed, then additional material is not issued. For example, if you created a labor ticket for

an operation and then increased the quantity of the material requirement, the additional

requirement will not be issued.

Note:

If operations are in process when you select this auto-issue method, additional materials

are not issued to any in-process operation. To complete material issues for in-process operations,

you must manually issue the materials.

Based on Full Remaining Req Qty on Run Complete

– When you use this option, materials are

issued in proportion to the quantity or percent complete on the operation until the Run Complete

labor ticket is saved to the operation. When the Run Complete labor ticket is saved, all remaining

material requirements are issued to the operation, even if the operation is closed short. If you

backflush labor during the shipment of customer orders, then the full remaining quantity of a

material requirement is issued when the full quantity of the order line has been shipped or when

the line is closed short.

Depending on how you set up Preferences Maintenance, this quantity can include fixed scrap and

extra materials for deviated quantities.

For more information on setting up auto-issue parts, see "Auto-issue Parts" on page 3–21 in the

Inventory guide.

If you are integrated to Infor PLM, you can directly access PLM from Part Maintenance. Use the

PLM Integration section to specify PLM access information for the site. You can use the default

connection information specified in Application Global Maintenance, or you can specify site-

specific connection information in Site Maintenance. Specify this information:

– If this site uses a unique URL to access PLM, specify the external launch URL for

Web PLM in this field. If this site uses the default URL specified in Application Global

Maintenance, leave this field blank.

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 17

Enable

– Specify whether you can directly access PLM from Part Maintenance when viewing a

part for this site. Specify one of these options:

Default

– Specify Default to use the enable setting specified in Application Global

Maintenance. If you specify Default and the Enable check box is selected in Application

Global Maintenance, then you can access PLM from Part Maintenance when viewing parts for

this site. If you specified a URL in Site Maintenance, then that URL is used to access PLM. If

you left the Login URL in Site Maintenance blank, then the URL specified in Application

Global Maintenance is used to access PLM. If you specify Default and the Enable check box

is cleared in Application Global Maintenance, then you cannot access PLM when viewing

parts for this site, regardless if you have specified a URL in either Site Maintenance or

Application Global Maintenance.

– Specify No if you cannot access PLM in Part Maintenance when viewing parts for this

site. If you specify this option, you cannot access PLM when viewing parts for this site even if

you specify a Login URL in Site Maintenance or Application Global Maintenance.

Yes

– Specify Yes if you can access PLM in Part Maintenance when viewing parts for this site.

If you specify this option and you specify a login URL in Site Maintenance, then the URL you

specify in Site Maintenance is used to access PLM. If you specify this option and you leave

the Login URL field blank in Site Maintenance, then the login URL specified in Application

Global Maintenance is used to access PLM.

Click

Save

Using the APS Tab

This tab is displayed only if you are licensed to use VISUAL APS.

Use the APS tab to specify default file information to use with the information that you import with the

APS Import Utility and export with the APS Export Utility.

Assigning Import File Paths

Set these Import File Paths:

• Customer Order

• Inventory

• Work Order

• Labor

• Purchase Order

• Master Schedule

• Part

• Resource

To assign import file paths:

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click the

APS

tab.

Click a

Path / File

button. For example, to assign the Customer Order file path, click the

Customer Order Path / File

button.

Navigate to the folder where you keep the import file, select it and click

Open

The path and name you selected appears in the path field.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

Assigning Export File Paths

To assign export file paths:

Click the

APS

tab.

Click the

Export Paths / Files

button.

Click the appropriate button for the export path to assign.

Navigate to the folder where you keep the import file, select it and click

Open

The path and name you selected appears in the path field.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

Assigning APS Import Default IDs

To assign import IDs:

Click the

APS

tab.

Click the

APS Import Defaults

button.

The APS Defaults dialog box appears.

Click the appropriate browse button for the ID to set.

Select the ID to use and click the

button.

Cick

in the APS Defaults dialog box and click the

Save

toolbar button.

Setting File Styles

To set file styles:

Click the

APS

tab.

To surround strings with quotation marks, select the

Quoted Strings

check box.

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 19

To trim the leading and trailing spaces from the text strings it imports, select the

Trim Trailing and

Leading Spaces From Strings

check box.

To assume that periods in numbers are decimal points, select the

Implied Decimal Points On

Numbers

check box.

Click in the

Field Delimiter

arrow and select the identifier to use between fields.

You can select:

Asterisk

– *

Tilde

– ~

Comma

– ,

Tab

– An invisible tab character.

Null (Fixed Length)

– Fields in the import file must be the same length as specified by the

database.

Click the

Record Delimiter

arrow and select the identifier to use between records.

You can select:

Newline

– To display each record on a new line, select the

Newline

option.

Null (Fixed Length)

– Records in the import file must be the same length as specified by the

database.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

Assigning Existing Parts, Resources, Services, and Employees to Sites

4 – 20

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Assigning Existing Parts, Resources, Services, and

Employees to Sites

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, you can assign existing parts, shop resources, services, and

employees to your sites in the Site Maintenance window. Parts, resources, and services must be

assigned to a site before they can be used in transactions for that site. Employees must be assigned

to a site before they can be used in a labor ticket.

If you are licensed to use a single site, all parts, shop resources, and services automatically exist in

your single site.

The SYSADM user can also assign database users to sites. For more information, refer to the “User

Management” chapter in the System Administrator guide.

Adding Parts to a Site

To add existing parts to a site:

Select

Maintain

Site Parts

Click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to which you are adding parts.

Click the

Add to Site

check box for the parts to add to the site. To add all parts to the site, click

Select All for Add

. To clear all selections in the Add to Site column, click

Unselect All for Add

Click

Save

to add the parts to the site. After you click save, the Exists in Site check box is

selected for the parts you added.

After you add parts to the site, you can modify certain part information in Part Maintenance at the

site level.

Adding Services to a Site

To add existing parts to a site:

Select

Maintain

Site Services

Click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to which you are adding services.

Click the

Add to Site

check box for the services to add to the site. To add all services to the site,

click

Select All for Add

. To clear all selections in the Add to Site column, click

Unselect All for

Add

Click

Save

to add the services to the site. After you click save, the

Exists in Site

check box is

selected for the services you added.

After you add services to the site, you can modify certain service information in Outside Service

Maintenance.

Assigning Existing Parts, Resources, Services, and Employees to Sites

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

4 – 21

Adding Shop Resources to a Site

To add existing shop resources to a site:

Select

Maintain

Site Resources

Click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to which you are adding shop resources.

Click the

Add to Site

check box for the shop resources to add to the site. If you choose to add a

shop resource group ID, you are asked if you want to add the resources that are members of the

group to the site. Click

Yes

to add the group members.

To add all shop resources to the site, click

Select All for Add

To clear all selections in the Add to Site column, click

Unselect All for Add

Click

Save

to add the shop resources to the site. After you click save, the Exists in Site check box

is selected for the shop resources you added.

After you add shop resources to the site, you can modify certain shop resource information in Shop

Resource Maintenance.

Adding Employees to a Site

To add existing employees to a site:

Select

Maintain

Site Employees

Click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to which you are adding employees.

To add employees to the site, click

Add to Site

To add all employees, click

Select All for Add

To clear all selections in the Add to Site column, click

Unselect All for Add

Click

Save

. After you click save, the

Exists in Site

check box is selected for the employees you

added.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, then each employee’s pay rate is maintained at the site level.

After you add employees to your sites in Site Maintenance, access Employee Maintenance to define

the pay rate for each employee at each site. For more information, refer to “Assigning Employees to

Sites” on page 8-11 in this guide.

You can also add employees to sites in Employee Maintenance.

Setting Service Charge Defaults

4 – 22

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Setting Service Charge Defaults

Use the Service Charge Defaults dialog box to set up the service charges you use. If you are licensed

to use multiple sites, maintain this information by site.

To set up service charge defaults:

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site for which you

are setting up service charge defaults. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is

unavailable.

Select

Maintain

Service Charge Defaults

Specify this information:

– Specify a unique identifier for the service charge in the ID field.

Description

– Specify a description of this service charge in the Description field.

Unit Price

– Specify the service charge per unit.

Trade Discount %

– Specify the discount available for this service.

Commission %

– Specify the commission rate paid to the sales representative for this service.

Product Code

– Specify the product code to which this service charge applies.

Commodity Code

– Specify the commodity code to which this service applies.

Sales Tax Grp ID

– Specify the sales tax group to apply to this service charge.

Revenue Account ID

– Specify the account where the service charge is posted.

To include this service charge for Intrastat calculations, select the

Include for Intrastat

check

box.

To include any comments or specifications for this service charge, click in the Specifications text

box and enter the comments.

Click

Save

Deleting Service Charge Codes

To delete service charge codes:

Click the browse button and select the ID to delete.

Click

Delete

In the confirmation dialog box, click

Yes

The service charge is deleted from your database.

Manufacturing Costing

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 1

Chapter 5: Manufacturing Costing

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is Costing?............................................................................................................................. 5–2

Setting Up Costing.......................................................................................................................... 5–3

Costs and Accounts ...................................................................................................................... 5–18

Preparing Manufacturing Journals................................................................................................ 5–33

What are Costing Tools/Audits?.................................................................................................... 5–56

What is Costing?

5 – 2

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What is Costing?

To determine an organization’s profits and losses, the costs associated with the production of the end

product must be accumulated, measured, and recorded.

To set up costing, you must determine how to calculate costs and which accounts to use to record the

costs. Use the Costing tab in Accounting Entity Maintenance to determine how to calculate the costs

you record. Use the Application Global Maintenance (Financials) window to assign default accounts

to record the costs. In many cases, you can override the default account on an individual record.

After you set up how to measure costs and where to record them, costs are tracked when you

perform transactions, such as inventory issues to work orders, purchases of inventory, and shipments

of customer orders. To post these costs to your general ledger, run the Costing Utilities to calculate

the current costs, then use the Post Manufacturing Journals window to post the transactions to your

general ledger.

You can analyze costs before or after you post them in the Costing Tools window. Costing Tools

show when an expected cost does not match to the cost actually applied.

This chapter describes:

• How to set up costing, including selecting a costing method

• How to assign accounts to use for costing

• How to analyze costs

Types of Manufacturing Costs

Four types of costs are typically incurred during manufacturing. These costs are:

Material

– Material cost is the cost of the raw materials that comprise your product.

Labor

– Labor is the cost incurred by employees. Labor costs can be direct or indirect. Direct labor

costs are incurred when raw materials are assembled into finished goods. Indirect labor costs are

overhead costs that cannot be directly charged to the manufacture of a product. Indirect labor

includes costs such as vacation time and administrative time.

Burden

– Burden costs are overhead expenses, such as rent, utilities, and depreciation. Burden

costs can be associated with the purchase and issue of material and with the operation of shop

resources.

Service

– Service costs are incurred when an outside agency performs an operation to a part.

The costing method and costing settings you select determine how these costs are calculated.

Setting Up Costing

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 3

Setting Up Costing

To access the Costing tab, select

Admin

Accounting Entity Maintenance

. Click the

Costing

tab.

About Costing Methods

You can select one of these costing methods:

Standard Costing

– Standard Costing values every inventory transaction at the cost standards

you set in Part Maintenance at the time of the transaction. Differences between the part standard

value and the actual cost are recorded in variance accounts in the general ledger.

Actual Costing

– Actual Costing uses the source of the raw material cost to define the value of all

inventory in the system. It uses the hourly labor rate of the employee that creates the labor ticket

and the invoice value of any services received. Actual costing uses your First-In-First-Out (FIFO)

rules to assign value when the inventory is consumed.

If you are licensed to use Projects/A&D functionality, you must select Actual as your costing

method in all entities. If a particular entity does not engage in project work, that entity must still

use the Actual costing method if you have applied a projects/A&D license.

Average Costing

– Average costing also uses the source of the raw material cost, but calculates

costs based on the average material cost in your inventory. Average Costing calculates the

current running average of inventory for each part and assigns that value when inventory is

consumed.

The options on the Costing tab become available or unavailable based on the costing method you

choose.

In addition to specifying a costing method for finished goods, you also specify a costing method for

work in process (WIP).

Considerations Before Choosing a Costing Method

Certain functionality is only available if you use a particular costing method. If you intend to use the

functions described in this section, select a costing method that is compatible with the functions.

Caution:

The costing options that you select, especially costing method, drastically affect

how the costing portion of VISUAL operates. Before deciding on any of these

options, be sure to read the Costing chapter of the System-wide guide. Do not

make a permanent selection without fully understanding the implications; if you are

unsure, contact your sales associate, or Customer Support. After you begin

executing transactions, you CANNOT change these options.

Setting Up Costing

5 – 4

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Projects/A&D

If you have applied a Projects/A&D license to your database, you must use the Actual costing method

and the By Part Location FIFO Method / Inventory Grouping setting.

Landed costs

If you intend to use landed costs, you must use either the Average or Actual costing method. You

cannot use the Standard costing method. When you enable landed costs, you can link multiple

Accounts Payable Invoices to a single purchase receipt line.

You can activate the landed costs feature in Financials Application Global Maintenance.

Consignment

If you use Actual or Average Costing methods and you store consigned items from your customers or

vendors, you must use By Part Location as your FIFO Method / Inventory Grouping. If you use Actual

or Average Costing methods with FIFO By Part, then the From Vendor and From Vendor location

types are removed from Warehouse Maintenance, and Consignment Receiving cannot be used.

If you use Actual or Average Costing methods and only use consignment to store your inventory at

vendors or customers, you can use either FIFO by Part or FIFO by Part Location.

You can use Standard Costing methods for your consigned inventory without restriction.

See the “Consignment” chapter in the Inventory user’s guide.

Setting Up Standard Costing

Standard costing is the method of comparing predetermined estimates of cost to the actual

expenditures for building/purchasing a product. Any difference between the standard and actual is a

variance

. With standard costing, every part, component, operation, and assembly has a standard

cost. Typically, you would derive standard costs annually, usually in conjunction with the annual

physical inventory.

To set up standard costing, specify the Standard option in Accounting Entity Maintenance and

determine other costing settings. Use Part Maintenance, Shop Resource Maintenance, Outside

Service Maintenance, and Employee Maintenance to set up cost standards.

Specifying Standard Costing Options

This procedure describes how to set up options specific to Standard costing method. Refer to Setting

Up a WIP Costing Method and Selecting a Receipt Exchange Rate Date to complete costing set up.

Setting Up Costing

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 5

Select

Admin

Accounting Entity Maintenance

In the Costing Method section, select the

Standard

option.

In the Labor Cost Basis section, select one of these options:

Hours Worked

– Select this option to calculate labor costs by multiplying the hours reported on a

labor ticket by the standard cost of the operation.

Quantity Produced

– Select this option to calculate labor costs by multiplying the quantity

completed for an operation by the standard cost per unit for the operation.

In the Costing Between Levels section, specify how to process costs when one fabricated part is

a material requirement in another fabricated part.

When you fabricate a part, costs are incurred in all four cost categories: material, labor, burden,

and service. When you use a fabricated part as a material requirement, you can combine the four

cost categories and use the total as the material cost of the requirement, or you can keep each

cost category separate.

Choose one of these options:

Fold to Material Cost

– If you select this option, the Material, Labor, Burden, and Service cost of

an internally fabricated part are summed into the material cost when it is required in another

fabricated part. The entire cost of the requirement is counted as material cost.

Keep Separate Costs

– If you select this option, the Material, Labor, Burden, and Service costs

of an internally manufactured material requirement contribute to those individual categories in

parent assemblies.

For example: where Fabricated Part B requires Fabricated Part A.

Click

Save

Service Material Labor Burden

Costs Totals for

Fabricated Part A

250 500 200 50

Costs Totals for

Fabricated Part B

100 100 100 100

(Not including costs of Part A)

Totals for Part B Including Part A

With Keep Separate Costs 350 600 300 150

With Fold to Material Cost 1100 100 100 100

With Keep Separate Costs, each column is simply added together separately.

With Fold to Material Costs, all costs of Part A are totaled

(250+500+200+50=1000)

and this total is added to the material cost only of Part B

(100+1000=1100)

Setting Up Costing

5 – 6

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Specifying Standards

Use Part Maintenance, Shop Resource Maintenance, and Outside Service Maintenance to set up

standard costs.

Specifying Part Standard Costs

Use Part Maintenance to specify the standard costs for manufactured and purchased parts. You can

also define which G/L accounts to use to record the costs.

For fabricated parts, you can specify material, labor, burden, and service standard costs. For raw

materials (parts that are not fabricated), you specify materials costs. For a purchased part, you can

also specify a fixed cost.

The cost standards are used in these transactions:

• Material adjust-in transactions use these values to determine the transaction costs. The quantity

adjusted-in is multiplied by the standard costs to determine the FIFO layer’s value.

• Engineering masters use the standard costs for their estimates. Based on the Engineering

masters, costs will flow next to the work order estimate cost when they are created.

• Purchase order receipts use the standard costs when goods are received. The total received

amount is compared to the accounts payable voucher costs to determine purchase price

variances.

• Finished Goods receipts use standard costs for receipts. The costs received are compared to the

incurred WIP amounts to determine Finished Goods Variances.

You can also specify burden amounts or rates that apply to purchases and material issues. Burden is

the capitalization of current overhead manufacturing costs to the parts that are manufactured during

that period. Purchase burden is applied when materials are purchased and received into inventory.

Issue burden is applied when materials are issued to a job. Issue burden is carried in the part’s

inventory value until it is shipped. Inventory value moves to Costs of Goods Sold upon shipment.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, specify costing information at the site level.

To specify standard costs for parts:

Select

Inventory

Part Maintenance

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the Site ID arrow and select the site to use to specify

costs. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Part ID

browse and select the part for which you are establishing standards.

In the Costs section of the Costing tab, specify this information:

Material

– For fabricated parts, enter the per unit cost of the raw material you use to produce the

part. For purchased parts, enter the per unit cost, including price and any other per unit cost you

incur in the purchase of this part.

Labor

– For fabricated parts, enter the labor cost standard to produce this part. For purchased

parts, you typically do not incur labor costs and should enter zero.

Setting Up Costing

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5 – 7

Fixed

– If you have any fixed costs associated with purchased parts, such as vendor setup

charges, enter them in the Fixed field. Fixed charges are not per unit charges. They are one-time

only charges regardless of quantity. You cannot enter fixed costs for Fabricated parts.

Burden

– For fabricated parts, enter your estimated cost of the burden to produce this part.

For purchased parts, you cannot specify a value in this field. If you specify a value in the

Purchase Burdens section, the value is inserted into this field.

Service

– For fabricated parts, enter the estimated cost of outside services necessary to produce

this part.

Total

– The total of all costs is calculated and inserted in this field.

In the Issue Burdens section, specify the costs incurred internally when issuing the part to a work

order. This does not include shipping costs.

Percent

– If a percentage of the material cost is incurred when the material is issued, specify the

percent in this field.

Per Unit

– If burden is applied per unit when the material is issued, specify per unit cost in this

field.

You can specify either a percent or a per unit cost, or both.The burden cost is applied when the

part is issued to a work order.

In the Purchase Burdens section, specify the costs incurred when purchasing the part. This does

not include shipping costs. These fields are available only if the part is a purchased part.

Percent

– If a percentage of the material cost is incurred when materials are purchased, specify

the percent in this field. The percent value is multiplied by the material cost and the result is

inserted in the Burden field.

Per Unit

– If burden is applied per unit when the material is purchased, specify per unit cost in this

field. The value is inserted in the Burden field.

Click

Save

Calculating Fabricated Part Cost Standards from Engineering Masters

Use the Implode Costs function to calculate cost standards for your fabricated parts based on the raw

materials, resources, and services on the fabricated part’s engineering master.

You can use this function at the site level only.

If your fabricated part is made up of purchased parts, these calculations are made to determine the

costs for the fabricated part:

Material

– The material costs of all material requirements, plus the fixed costs for the material

requirements, are added and inserted in the Material field for the parent part.

Labor

– The labor costs for any shop resources used in operations are added and inserted in the

Labor field for the parent part.

Burden

– The burden costs for shop resources in operations plus the burden costs for material

requirements are added and inserted in the Burden field for the parent part.

Setting Up Costing

5 – 8

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Services

– The service costs from operations are combined and inserted into the Services field.

Fabricated parts can be made up of other fabricated parts. If your parent part uses fabricated parts for

material requirements, costs are determined based on your selection in the Costing Between Levels

section on the Costing tab in Accounting Entity Maintenance. If you selected Fold to Material Costs,

all cost categories for fabricated material requirements are combined and used as the material cost

for the requirements. If you selected Keep Separate Costs, the Material, Labor, Burden, and Service

costs of an internally manufactured material requirement contribute to those individual categories in

parent assemblies.

To calculate standard costs:

In Part Maintenance, select the Site ID to use.

Select

Maintain

Implode Costs

Click one of these options:

Current Part Only

– If you specified a part ID in Part Maintenance, click this option to implode the

currently selected part.

Selected Parts

– To select multiple parts to implode, click this option, then click the browse button

and select the parts to implode. You can select parts from within the selected site only.

All top-level parts

– To implode costs for all top level parts in the site, click this option. Top level

parts are parts with engineering masters.

Specify these settings:

Multi-Level

– If the part you are imploding includes fabricated parts as material requirements,

select this check box to also implode the fabricated materials.

Permanently save all levels

– If you selected the Multi-Level check box and are imploding a

single part, select this check box to permanently save the new costs of any fabricated material

requirements. If you are imploding multiple parts, this check box is automatically selected.

Click

Specifying Shop Resource Standard Costs

Use Shop Resource Maintenance to specify the labor and burden standards for shop resources.

When you use shop resources in an engineering master, the standards you specify in shop resource

maintenance can contribute to the total standard cost of the parent part in the engineering master.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, specify costing information at the site level.

To specify standard costs for shop resources:

Select

Eng/Mfg

Shop Resource Maintenance

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the Site ID arrow and select the site to use to specify

costs. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Resource ID

browse button and select the resource for which you are setting up costs.

In the Costs section, specify the labor costs for this resource. Specify this information:

Setup per hour

– Specify the hourly rate for setting up the resource.

Setting Up Costing

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 9

Run per hour

– Specify the hourly rate for production.

Run per unit

– Specify the per unit cost for the resource.

In the Burden Costs section, specify the burden costs for this resource. You can specify particular

burden rates, or you can specify burden as a percentage of the labor rates for the resource.

Specify this information:

Burden/hour (setup)

– To specify a particular set up burden rate per hour, specify the rate in this

field.

Burden/hour (setup) Percent

– To specify set up burden as a percentage of the labor set up

costs, specify the percentage in the Percent field.

Burden/hour (run)

– To specify a particular run burden rate per hour, specify the rate in this field.

Burden/hour (run) Percent

– To specify run burden as a percentage of the labor run costs,

specify the percentage in the Percent field.

Burden/unit (run)

– To specify run burden per unit produced, specify the rate in this field.

Fixed Burden

– To specify a one-time burden cost when this resource is used, specify the

amount in this field.

Click

Save

Specifying Outside Service Standard Costs

Use Outside Service Maintenance to specify standard costs for services. The standard costs you

specify in Outside Service Maintenance contribute to the Service costs for a fabricated part.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, specify cost information at the site level.

To specify service standard costs:

Select

Eng/Mfg

Outside Service Maintenance

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the Site ID arrow and select the site to use to specify

costs. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Service ID

browse button and select the resource for which you are setting up costs.

Specify this information:

Cost Per Unit

– If the costs are charged on a per unit basis, specify the cost in this field.

Base Charge

– If one-time base cost is charged for this service, specify the cost in this field.

Minimum Charge

– If a minimum cost is charged for this service, specify the cost in this field. If

the service ordered costs more than the minimum charge, then the system charges the amount

ordered. If the service ordered cost is less than the minimum charge, then the minimum charge is

used.

Click

Save

Setting Up Costing

5 – 10

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Setting up Actual Costing

Note:

If you have applied a Projects/A&D license to your database, use the Actual costing method.

Use the Costing tab in Accounting Entity Maintenance to set up actual costing. Actual costing uses

these costs:

Labor

– The pay rates set up for employees in Employee Maintenance are used for labor costs in

transactions. If the employee is paid hourly, the hourly rate is used. If the employee is a salaried

employee, the value used in a transaction is the prorated share of the employee’s salary. You can

override labor rates in Labor Ticket Entry. You can also calculate overtime in Labor Ticket Entry.

Material

– Material costs depend upon the source of raw material costs and the FIFO method you

choose. You can choose either Purchase Orders or A/P Invoices as the source of the material cost.

You can choose either by part or by part location as your FIFO method. If you choose by part, then

the location where the part was received is ignored. When you issue a part, the cost used is the price

of the oldest part in your inventory regardless of location. If you choose by part location as your FIFO

method, then location is considered when determining the cost of a part. When you choose by part

location the cost of the oldest part in the location from which you are issuing the part is used as the

material cost.

Burden

– Burden costs depend upon the selection you make in the Burden Basis section. If you

select Determined by Resource Burden, then the burden information specified in the Burden Costs

section in Shop Resource Maintenance is used. If you select Determined by Operation Burden, then

the burden information specified on the operation card for the work order is used.

Services

– Services costs depend upon the source of raw material costs you choose. If you choose

Purchase Orders, then the costs of services match the costs on the purchase order. If you choose A/

P Invoices, then the costs of services match the costs on the A/P Invoice.

This procedure describes how to set up options specific to Actual costing method. Refer to Setting Up

a WIP Costing Method and Selecting a Receipt Exchange Rate Date to complete costing set up.

To set up actual costing:

In the Costing Method section, click the

Actual

option.

In the FIFO Method/Inventory Grouping section, select how to determine first in-first out costs.

Click one of these options:

By Part

– Click this option to calculate costs based on the order in which you received the part

regardless of the location. If you are licensed to use multiple sites, the locations must be within

the same site.

For example, you receive the same parts, four times, at four prices, into these locations:

You then issue 15 of those parts from location 1. If you select

By Part

, costs are calculated as:

10@$1 plus 5@$2 totaling $20

Day 1 Location 1 10@$1

Day 2 Location 2 10@$2

Day 3 Location 1 10@$3

Day 4 Location 2 10@$4

Setting Up Costing

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 11

Because you received the part at $1 first then $2, these prices are used for

By Part

calculations.

By Part Location

– Costs are calculated based on the order in which you received the part into

the location.

For example, you receive the same parts, four times, at four prices, into these locations:

You then issue 15 of those parts from location 1. If you select

By Part Location

, costs are

calculated as:

10@$1 plus 5@$3 totaling $25

Because FIFO is by part location, only those parts in location 1 are used.

If you are licensed to use VISUAL DCMS and part trace, you can use trace IDs in your FIFO

calculations. Select the Actual Costing by Trace ID check box to issue parts based on trace ID.

For example, presume you received four Part X at $10 on trace ID 100, then receive four more at

$20 on trace ID 110. If you issued three based on trace ID 110, the parts would be valued at $20

each.

If you are licensed to use Projects/A&D, you must use By Part Location as your FIFO method.

In the Source of Raw Material Cost section, specify the transaction to use as the source of costs

for purchased materials. Click one of these options:

Purchase Orders

– Select this option to use the price specified on the purchase order as the

source of raw material cost. The cost is taken from the purchase order when you receive the part

into your inventory. This option is only preferable if you are not using VISUAL Financials.

A/P Invoices

– Select this option to use the price paid on the A/P invoice as the final cost for the

part. When you select this option, costs are first taken from the purchase order as an estimate,

then updated from the invoice for the purchase. This option provides a more accurate

assessment of costs. If you use VISUAL Financials, you should select this option.

In the Costing Between Levels section, specify how to process costs when one fabricated part is

a material requirement in another fabricated part.

When you fabricate a part, costs are incurred in all four cost categories: material, labor, burden,

and service. When you use a fabricated part as a material requirement, you can combine the four

cost categories and use the total as the material cost of the requirement, or you can keep each

cost category separate.

Choose one of these options:

Fold to Material Cost

– If you select this option, the Material, Labor, Burden, and Service cost of

an internally fabricated part are summed into the material cost when it is required in another

fabricated part. The entire cost of the requirement is counted as material cost.

Day 1 Location 1 10@$1

Day 2 Location 2 10@$2

Day 3 Location 1 10@$3

Day 4 Location 2 10@$4

Setting Up Costing

5 – 12

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Keep Separate Costs

– If you select this option, the Material, Labor, Burden, and Service costs

of an internally manufactured material requirement contribute to those individual categories in

parent assemblies.

For example: where Fabricated Part B requires Fabricated Part A.

In the Burden Basis section, select the basis to use when calculating burden rates. Click one of

these options:

Determined By Resource Burden

– Click this option to calculate burdens based on the rates

you enter for the resource. You cannot override these rates on the work order’s operation card.

Determined By Operational Burden

– Click this option to calculate burdens based on the rates

you enter on the work order’s operation card. This can be useful if you periodically update your

burden costs at the resource level without affecting current work orders.

Click

Save

Setting up Average Costing

If you use average costing, the costs of raw materials are valued based on the average cost of the

part in your site’s inventory. If you are licensed to use multiple sites, average costs are calculated on

a site-by-site basis. When you issue a material, the average cost is recalculated.

Average costing uses these costs:

Labor

– The pay rates set up for employees in Employee Maintenance are used for labor costs in

transactions. If the employee is paid hourly, the hourly rate is used. If the employee is a salaried

employee, the value used in a transaction is the prorated share of the employee’s salary. You can

override labor rates in Labor Ticket Entry. You can also calculate overtime in Labor Ticket Entry.

Service Material Labor Burden

Costs Totals for

Fabricated Part A

250 500 200 50

Costs Totals for

Fabricated Part B

100 100 100 100

(Not including costs of Part A)

Totals for Part B Including Part A

With Keep Separate Costs 350 600 300 150

With Fold to Material Cost 1100 100 100 100

With Keep Separate Costs, each column is simply added together separately.

With Fold to Material Costs, all costs of Part A are totaled

(250+500+200+50=1000)

and this total is added to the material cost only of Part B

(100+1000=1100)

Setting Up Costing

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5 – 13

Material

– The total cost of all parts in your inventory is divided by the total number of parts to

determine the average cost.

The source of raw material cost you choose determines the values used to calculate the total cost of

the parts in your inventory. You can choose either Purchase Orders or A/P Invoices as the source of

the material cost. The FIFO method you choose determines how the total value of parts in your

inventory is recalculated when you issue parts.

For example, presume you received parts at these values into these locations:

The total value of the part in your inventory is $30, and the total number of parts in your inventory is

12. If you issued one part from Location 1 to a work order, the cost of the part would be valued at

$2.50 ($30 divided by 12). The second part would be valued at $2.63 ($30 minus the actual value of

the part equals $29, divided by 11). The third part would be valued at $2.80 ($28 divided by 10). The

fourth part would be valued at $3.00 ($27 divided by 9).

The value of the fifth part depends upon your FIFO setting. If you select By Part Location, then

Location 1 would be used as the source of the material cost, and $3 would be subtracted from the

total value of your inventory for a result of $27. The result would be divided by 8 for a value of $3.00. If

you select By Part, then Location 2 would be used as the source of the material cost, and $2 would be

subtracted from the total value of your inventory. The value of the part would be $3.125 ($28 divided

by 8).

Burden

– Burden costs depend upon the selection you make in the Burden Basis section. If you

select Determined by Resource Burden, then the burden information specified in the Burden Costs

section in Shop Resource Maintenance is used. If you select Determined by Operation Burden, then

the burden information specified on the operation card for the work order is used.

Services

– Services costs depend upon the source of raw material costs you choose. If you choose

Purchase Orders, then the costs of services match the costs on the purchase order. If you choose A/

P Invoices, then the costs of services match the costs on the A/P Invoice.

This procedure describes how to set up options specific to Average costing method. Refer to Setting

Up a WIP Costing Method and Selecting a Receipt Exchange Rate Date to complete costing set up.

To set up average costing:

In the Costing Method section, click the

Average

option.

In the FIFO Method/Inventory Grouping section, select how to determine first in-first out costs.

Click one of these options:

By Part

– Click this option to calculate costs based on the order in which you received the part

regardless of the location.

By Part Location

– Costs are calculated based on the order in which you received the part into

the location.

Day 1 Location 1 3@$1

Day 2 Location 2 3@$2

Day 3 Location 1 3@$3

Day 4 Location 2 3@$4

Setting Up Costing

5 – 14

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

In the Source of Raw Material Cost section, specify the transaction to use as the source of costs

for purchased materials. Click one of these options:

Purchase Orders

– Select this option to use the price specified on the purchase order as the

source of raw material cost. The cost is taken from the purchase order when you receive the part

into your inventory. This option is only preferable if you are not using VISUAL Financials.

A/P Invoices

– Select this option to use the price paid on the A/P invoice as the final cost for the

part. When you select this option, costs are first taken from the purchase order as an estimate,

then updated from the invoice for the purchase. This option provides a more accurate

assessment of costs. If you use VISUAL Financials, you should select this option.

In the Burden Basis section, select the basis to use when calculating burden rates. Click one of

these options:

Determined By Resource Burden

– Click this option to calculate burdens based on the rates

you enter for the resource. You cannot override these rates on the work order’s operation card.

Determined By Operational Burden

– Click this option to calculate burdens based on the rates

you enter on the work order’s operation card. This can be useful if you periodically update your

burden costs at the resource level without affecting current work orders.

In the Costing Between Levels section, Keep Separate Costs is selected. You cannot change this

setting if you use Average costing.

Click

Save

Selecting a WIP Costing Method

To specify the WIP costing method, select one of these options:

Actual

– Actual WIP values any receipts from Work In Process at the full value of the Work Order.

For example, you are making 100 parts and each part requires $1.00 of material. On the first day you

issue $100 of material to the Work Order. If you finish 1 part on the first day it will be valued at $100 –

the full value of the Work Order. On the second day, when you receive the other 99 parts, the costing

utility will re-value the receipt from previous day to $1 and share the other $99 with the other receipts.

The value of an Actual WIP costed Work Order without any receipts is always zero.

Projected

– Projected WIP values any receipts at the estimated unit cost based on the quantity

received and the remaining quantity to complete. For example, you are making 100 parts and each

part requires $1.00 of material. On the first day, you issue $100 of material to the Work Order. If you

finish one part on the first day, the work order would produce a cost of $1 for 1 part on the first day

and then $1 each for the remaining 99 parts the next day. Projected WIP receipt values will never

exceed the actual cost in the job.

Selecting a Receipt Exchange Rate Date

In the Receipt Exchange Rate section, specify the date to use to determine the exchange rate applied

to purchased goods. Select one of these options:

Setting Up Costing

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5 – 15

Use Receiver Date

– Select this option to apply the exchange rate as of the date the purchased

goods are received.

Use Invoice Date

– Select this option to apply the exchange rate as of the date of the invoice. The

invoice date is either the date specified on the transaction or the current date, depending on your

setting in the Effective Exchange Rate date section on the General tab.

Specifying a POC Revenue Recognition Method

If you are licensed to use Aerospace & Defense modules, select a Percentage of Completion (POC)

revenue recognition method. The primary difference between the two revenue recognition methods is

how direct cost and burden amounts are calculated. With the Revenue First method, costs are

calculated by applying the POC to a pro-rated share of each cost source. With the Cost to Cost

method, the actual costs incurred are included in the revenue calculation.

To choose a POC revenue recognition method, click one of these options:

Revenue First

– When you click this option, total revenue to be recognized is calculated first by

multiplying the total price of the contract by the percentage of completion. Then, the total costs

incurred are calculated by multiplying the total costs in the EAC by the percentage of the total cost

each cost area represents. Then, the product is multiplied by the percentage of completion.

For example, presume your project has these costs and fees in the Estimate at Completion (EAC):

If the POC value at the end of the first period is 25%, then these calculations are made:

$10,000 * 0.25 = $2,500. The total revenue recognized for the period is $2,500. The $2,500 includes

these costs:

Labor = $8,000 * 0.3125 * 0.25 = $625

Material = $8,000 * 0.5 * 0.25 = $1,000

Services/ODC = $8,000 * 0.0625 * 0.25 = $125

Burden = $8,000 * 0.125 * 0.25 = $250

Total costs to be recognized = $2,000

Cost Source EAC Amount Percentage of total cost

Labor $2,500 31.25%

Material $4,000 50%

Services/Other Direct Costs $500 6.25%

Burden $1,000 12.5%

Total Cost $8,000

Fee $2,000

Total Price $10,000

Setting Up Costing

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

To calculate the total fee recognized, the total costs recognized are subtracted from the total revenue

recognized:

$2,500 - $2,000 = $500

In subsequent periods, the same calculations are made, then any previously recognized revenue is

subtracted. For example, if the POC value at the end of the second period is 35%, these calculations

are made:

$10,000 * 0.35 = $3,500. The total revenue recognized is $3,500 minus the $2,500 already

recognized, or $1,000. The $1,000 includes these costs:

Labor = $8,000 * 0.3125 * 0.35 = $875. $875 - $625 previously recognized = $250 recognized in

second period.

Material = $8,000 * 0.5 * 0.35 = $1,400. $1,400 - $1,000 previously recognized = $400 recognized in

second period.

Services/ODC = $8,000 * 0.0625 * 0.35 = $175. $175 - $125 previously recognized = $50 recognized

in second period.

Burden = $8,000 * 0.125 * 0.35 = $350 minus $250 previously recognized = $100 recognized in

second period.

Total costs to be recognized in second period = $800.

To calculate the total fee recognized, the total costs recognized for the period is subtracted from the

total revenue recognized for the period:

$1,000 - $800 = $200

In summary, these are revenue amounts recognized for the two periods:

Cost to Cost

– When you click this option, revenue recognized for a period is comprised of the actual

costs incurred plus a fee amount based on the POC. For example, presume your project has these

costs and fees in the EAC:

Cost Source EAC Amount

Percentage

of total cost

Period 1

Revenue

(25% POC)

Period 2

Revenue

(35% POC)

Labor $2,500 31.25% $625 250

Material $4,000 50% $1,000 400

Services/Other Direct Costs $500 6.25% $125 50

Burden $1,000 12.5% $250 100

Total Cost $8,000 $2,000 $800

Fee $2,000 $500 $200

Total $10,000 $2,500 $1,000

Cost Source EAC Amount

Labor $2,500

Setting Up Costing

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5 – 17

In the first period, you incur these costs:

To calculate the fee amount to recognize, the total fee specified on the EAC is multiplied by the POC:

$2,000 * 0.25 = $500

The total amount recognized is $2,000 + $500 = $2,500.

In subsequent periods, the same calculations are made, then any previously recognized revenue

amounts are subtracted.

Material $4,000

Services/Other Direct Costs $500

Burden $1,000

Total Cost $8,000

Fee $2,000

Total Price $10,000

Cost Source Actual Cost

Labor $250

Material $1,500

Services/Other Direct Costs $125

Burden $125

Total Cost $2,000

POC for period $25%

Cost Source EAC Amount

Costs and Accounts

5 – 18

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Costs and Accounts

When you post a transaction, costs are recorded in various accounts in your general ledger. You set

up default accounts in Application Global Maintenance (Financials).

For some types of costs, you can specify override accounts to use instead of the default accounts.

You can specify override accounts in these areas:

• Shop Resource Maintenance

• Part Maintenance

• Customer Order Entry

• Purchase Order Entry

• Customer Maintenance

• Vendor Maintenance

You can use override accounts to provide more granularity to your manufacturing costs. For example,

if you used a different burden override account for each of your shop resources, you could track

exactly how much each shop resource contributed to your burden costs.

Shop Resource Maintenance

Shop Resource Maintenance allows you to track and maintain the resources necessary to perform

the manufacturing process as well as providing the necessary method to maintain accurate

definitions of your shop resources. This information is vital for proper scheduling and work order

costing. The information entered here will appear and be used in many other parts of the system.

This section discusses how to setup Shop Resources to report more specifically in the General

Ledger.

In most cases, Labor and Burden are reported to the default Applied Labor and Applied Factory

Burden accounts from the General Ledger Interface Accounts table.

In some cases, it may be best to show specific Applied Burden and Applied Labor in the General

Ledger. To do this, you can assign an account to each of the shop resources, or to those for which

you want to maintain detailed cost information in the General Ledger.

If the Account ID fields are left blank, the cost of this shop resource is added in with the default

account for Total Applied Labor and Total Applied Burden as specified in the General Ledger

Interface Accounts table.

Costs are entered into the fields that apply for that resource. These are the types of costs that can be

selected for the resource:

Labor Costs

Setup per hour

– Cost per hour to setup this resource.

Run per hour

– Cost to run the resource for one hour.

Costs and Accounts

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 19

Run per unit

– Cost to run the resource per unit produced.

Burden Costs

Burden / hour (setup)

– This is the burden cost per one hour of setup time. Use the Percent field and

/or the dollar amount setup burden for the resource.

Burden / hour (run)

– This is the burden cost per run of the resource. Use the Percent field and / or

the dollar amount setup burden for this resource.

Burden / unit (run)

– This is the burden cost per unit produced.

Fixed Burden

– A onetime cost (burden) charged when this resource is used.

Part Maintenance

In Part Maintenance, you can override the default accounts in several ways.

In a Part record, you can override the default material, labor, burden, and service accounts by clicking

the Accounting tab and specifying the overrides. For fabricated parts, you can override all four cost

accounts. For purchased parts, you can override the material and burden accounts. Any overrides

specified on the Accounting tab for a part take precedence over any override accounts specified

elsewhere. If you do not set up override accounts, the default Inventory accounts are used instead.

You can also set up override accounts by product codes. You can override these accounts:

• Inventory (material)

• Inventory (labor)

• Inventory (burden)

• Inventory (service)

• Work in process (material)

• Work in process (labor)

• Work in process (burden)

• Work in process (service)

• Variance (material)

• Variance (labor)

• Variance (burden)

• Variance (service)

• Cost of Goods Sold (material)

• Cost of Goods Sold (labor)

• Cost of Goods Sold (burden)

• Cost of Goods Sold (service)

Costs and Accounts

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Other Cost Sources

Inventory Adjustments

Material adjust-in transactions use the cost standards in Part Maintenance to determine the

transaction costs. Quantity adjusted-in times the Part Maintenance cost will extend to the FIFO layers

value.

Product Code G/L Interface Account Table Overrides

Accounts by Product Code

The accounts used by the Costing Utility program can be a function of the Product Code Table from

Part Maintenance. Here you can specify the accounts to be used by a part’s product code unless an

override account was specified elsewhere. If no product code is specified in the part, then the

appropriate override account is used.

You can specify these types of accounts:

Revenue Account

– The default account for use when shipments are invoiced. You can override this

account at the Customer Order Line. The default account is from the General Ledger Interface

Accounts Table. (Default Accounts Receivable Sales Revenue).

Adjustment

– The default to be used when making inventory adjustments. You can override this

account when entering inventory adjustments in Inventory Transaction Entry. If not specified here, the

adjustment account from the General Ledger Interface table is used.

Inventory

– The Raw Material or Finished Goods account(s) for use when receiving, issuing,

returning, or adjusting inventory for a specified product code. If not specified here, the account

numbers specified in the Part Master and then the default from the General Ledger Interface

Accounts table are used.

Work In Process

– The default Work In Process account(s) for this product code. You can override

this account at the Quote / Engineering Master / Work Order level(s). If not specified here or in the

work order, the default account in the General Ledger Interface Accounts table is used.

Variance

– The Purchase Price Variance Account for purchased parts or the Manufacturing Variance

Account for fabricated parts. These accounts are only used in standard costing. The variance account

is used for purchased parts in an actual cost system if costs are captured at Purchase Order price

rather than invoice value. This variance is taken when the Accounts Payable invoice is matched to the

Purchase Order Receiver in Accounts Payable Invoice Entry.

Cost of Goods Sold

– The Cost of Goods Sold account used for the specified product code. You can

override this account(s) at the Customer Order line item in Customer Order Entry. If not specified here

or in Order Entry, the default COGS account(s) in the General Ledger Interface Accounts table are

used.

Costs and Accounts

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 21

Account Override Sequence Summary

Inventory:

Purchase Price Variance:

Absorbed Labor and Burden:

Manufacturing Variances

After you have set standards, all transactions regarding the manufacture of the part must be

examined to determine variances, if any, from standard. The main categories of variances are:

• Material variance

• Labor variance

• Burden (overhead) absorption variance

Material Variance

Material usage variances can be traced to one of four source areas:

• Unit of Measure

• Miscellaneous Items

Raw & Goods Work in Process Cost of Goods Sold Finished

1. Part Master File 1. Work Order

1. Customer Order

Line

2. Product Code

Table

2. Product Code

Table

2. Product Code

Table

3. G/L Interface Table 3. G/L Interface Table 3. G/L Interface Table

Manufacturing Variance Inventory Adjustments Revenue

1. Product Code Table 1. Inv. Transaction Entry 1. Customer Order Line

2. G/L Interface Table 2. Product Code Table 2. Product Code Table

3. G/L Interface Table 3. G/L Interface Table

Burden Indirect Labor Expense

1. Shop Resource 1. Labor Ticket Entry

2. G/L Interface Table 2. Indirect Code

3. G/L Interface Table

Costs and Accounts

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

• Scrap

• Substitution

Material variances can be caused by purchase price changes and the amount of material used.

Purchase price variances

(PPV) occur when the actual cost of the raw material is different from the

established standard. If the actual cost is lower or higher than the established standard, this

generates a favorable or unfavorable variance respectively. You should perform an analysis to

determine if this is a one time occurrence, a result of a change in vendor pricing, or a change in

purchasing procedures.

Material usage variances occur when more or less than the required material is used in the

manufacturing process. Material usage variance can occur in manufacturing environments where

materials have to be issued in bulk due to the way it is purchased and stocked. The standard may be

based on the average number of units that can be produced from a given unit of stock issued to the

floor.

Usage variance can also be caused by miscellaneous materials such as small hardware, wire, paint,

etc. that are not included in the Bill of Material but are required to complete the product. This material

may be inventoried when purchased and charged to a variance (expense) account as consumed.

Other causes of material usage variance are scrap and substitution. Scrap variances occur when

defective parts are produced. Scrap, as a result of the manufacturing process, may already be built

into the standard. Scrap due to error also creates a variance.

A material variance due to substitution can occur when it is necessary to use a material other than

what is called for in the Bill of Material. This material may cost more or less, yield a different quantity,

etc. This variance may be caused by a one time occurrence due to a unique situation or as the result

of a change in the design of a product. This change can be the result of a cost improvement program

or a change in vendors.

Labor Variance

In a standard cost system, labor variance is the difference between the direct labor standard

established and the actual amount paid. This variance can be composed of two pieces:

• Efficiency

• Rate

Labor efficiency variance

is the difference between the standard hours required per the Bill of

Material and the actual hours expended to produce the part, extended by the standard labor rate.

For example, if the standard is 10 hours at $15 per hour and the actual is 8 hours, there is a favorable

efficiency variance of $30.

Labor rate variance

is the difference between the standard hourly rate and the actual rate paid,

extended by the actual hours worked.

Continuing with the above example, if the actual rate is $18 per hour, the rate variance is an

unfavorable $24. The combined labor variance is a favorable $6.

The above variances can also be affected by:

• Rework

Costs and Accounts

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5 – 23

• Unapplied labor

• Design changes

Rework

occurs when a defective part is produced during the manufacturing process, but can be

made usable with some additional processing. The added time required is not part of the standard

and is included in the variance.

Unapplied labor

occurs when it is not economical to apply a standard to some labor operations.

Examples may include set up, painting or plating, and inspection.

Design changes

can occur due to operations being added that were overlooked, or operations being

deleted due to cost improvement programs.

Burden (Overhead) Absorption

Overhead

– Burden, overhead, or indirect manufacturing expense are any expenses that cannot be

classified as direct material or direct labor. These include:

• Indirect labor payroll associated with the shop foreman, maintenance personnel, dispatchers

• Expense for rent, utilities, depreciation

• Non-inventory supplies

• Tools, and travel

These expenses are then allocated to the cost of the products.

A burden standard is established based on how the expense is capitalized to inventory. For every unit

produced, a standard dollar amount (either fixed or calculated) is added to the inventory value of the

unit.

Absorption

– A burden absorption variance occurs when more or less expense than was actually

incurred is capitalized to inventory in a given accounting period.

For example, assume the actual burden expenses incurred in a period are $65,000 and the

manufacturing process absorbs $67,000 based on the allocation method used. The difference would

be a $2,000 favorable absorption variance.

Manufacturing Cost

Whether using standard or actual costing, all transactions that change a part’s inventory balance or

the unit cost are captured as they occur.

In order to fully appreciate Costing, it is necessary to understand inventory valuation.

Inventory Valuation

– There are a number of different methods to value inventory LIFO, FIFO and

Average Cost. VISUAL uses the FIFO (First-in First-out) method of valuing inventory. The FIFO

method of inventory valuation assigns cost to inventory in cost layers. Each addition (purchase,

inventory receipt, or adjustment in) adds a new cost layer. Each subtraction (issue, sale, or

adjustment out) removes one or more cost layers.

VISUAL uses two types of FIFO layers:

Costs and Accounts

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

• Raw materials inventory contains layers by way of purchases from a supplier or when you create

a return from an issue return from work-in-process back to inventory (in the case of an over

issue).

• Work-in-process can also contain FIFO layers, which include multiple inventory issues for the

same part on a work order. This is categorized as a WIP Issue Layer.

The examples in Table A, on page 47, depict transaction flows in an actual cost database. In a

standard cost database all inventory transactions are performed at the standard rate and therefore

the melded issue costs carry the same value as the FIFO inventory layers.

FIFO From Purchases

– Every receipt of raw material inventory or finished goods inventory (no

distinction is made) is assigned a per unit price value. Raw material inventory FIFO layers are created

when a purchase is received into inventory. The cost of the purchased inventory is derived by the

number of units received times the per unit cost as identified on the purchase order. This value will

also represent the purchase order accrual value. Each purchase creates a unique layer of inventory

which displays the inventory valuation report accessed from the Reports menu.

FIFO Layers from Issue Returns

– Issue returns (parts issued to a work order returned to inventory)

also create a FIFO layer. When parts are issued to a work order their costs are added to work-in-

process based on the raw material FIFO layer they came from. If the issue to WIP is derived from

more than one layer then the costs of all the layers issued to fulfill the requirement are melded

together to create a single WIP issue layer. Any subsequent issues of the same part to a work order

will create an additional WIP issue layer. If a part on the work order is returned to inventory from work-

in-process, a new cost layer is created with the layers value being derived from the WIP issue layers

currently residing in the work order. If there is only one issue of a particular part for the work order the

cost is straight forward. It would be the average unit cost (by melding original FIFO layers) times the

number of units returned to inventory.

Where there are more than one raw material inventory “issues” to a work order the costs are returned

from the WIP issue layers in FIFO order.

FIFO Layers from Receipts and/or Adjust In

– Two other ways FIFO layers in inventory happen are

through a receipt of inventory (finished goods) from a work order. The cost of the inventory layer is

derived from the average unit cost on the work order times the number of units. If the receipt closes

the work order (complete receipts) the entire cost of the work order at the time of the receipt is the

value of the FIFO layer.

Adjustments into inventory create a separate cost layer in inventory for the per unit cost assigned

during inventory transaction entry. If no cost is assigned at that time, the cost will be derived by the

unit cost as set on the part master file when costing utilities is run.

Inventory Transactions

There are 10 classes of inventory transactions. Each of these transactions either move goods in or

out of inventory, or transfer between inventory locations. There are, therefore, 18 possible transaction

types. Most transactions affecting inventory (with the exception of transfers) either add or remove

costs from inventory.

Costs and Accounts

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 25

Transaction Types (Basics)

P/O Receipts

– The P/O Receipts are purchased items received into stock. When these costs are

received they are assigned to an inventory warehouse location. The number of units purchased as

well as the cost of the purchased part(s) will become a new cost layer of raw materials inventory.

When the PO Receipt is received into inventory the entry is booked to record a purchase accrual

(credit) with the offsetting debit to Inventory.

Inventory parts can be purchased directly to a work order. When these parts are received they are

booked to raw materials inventory and immediately issued to the corresponding work order. The

inventory transaction entry report will depict this process. Purchased parts that are purchased on

behalf of an existing work order are given the same treatment as inventory issues when received into

the warehouse. The only time these costs would become a FIFO layer is if they are subsequently

received into inventory through an inventory issue return.

As stated above VISUAL uses the FIFO method of valuing inventory. However, there is another level

of complexity to inventory valuation; part warehouse location. For each part in inventory, there may

be multiple holding bins in the warehouse. Each inventory transaction affects one or more of these

locations, and VISUAL must therefore maintain each of these locations in order to report proper

inventory valuations if the FIFO by part locations in Accounting Entity Maintenance is set.

Services

– In the same manner as purchased parts, services can be purchased directly from the

manufacturing window and are treated by costing utilities as if they were purchased parts. Costs are

booked to WIP with the offset to the purchase accrual account.

Inventory Issues/Issue Returns

– Inventory issues are transactions that assign raw material

inventory to a specific work order. Inventory issues will normally cause the reduction of one or more

inventory layer(s). These costs become the basis of the material costs assigned to WIP. Inventory

issue transactions are prepared by costing utilities to debit WIP and credit Inventory.

Issue returns are inventory parts sent back to the warehouse. Issue returns would most likely result

from overissues or raw materials to a work order. Costing utilities accounts for these costs by a credit

to raw materials inventory and a debit to WIP.

To improve the performance of costing utilities, an issue return with a monetary value of zero is

evaluated only once during costing. After the first evaluation, these zero-value transactions are

ignored by the costing utilities.

Accounts Payable

– Costs can be directly assigned through accounts payable for items that did not

undergo the normal purchasing process. In the invoice entry window these costs can be linked to the

work order. In doing so, VISUAL requires the user to enter the GL code to cost the items. The GL

Account assigned to an accounts payable invoice linked directly to a work order is treated as a

clearing account. Costing utilities post and offset entry to the GL account and apply the transaction

value to WIP.

Warehouse Transferred

– The cost implication (i.e., treatment of warehouse transfers) is dependent

on the setting for FIFO method in application global. If you select FIFO by Part, transfers from one

location to another do not have any cost implications; inventory transaction entry simply records the

movement (without cost implication) to the new location. If you select FIFO by part location in

Accounting Entity Maintenance, cost movements between locations are recorded.

Adjustments In/Out (Inventory)

– Usually, inventory adjustments stem from physical inventory

counts. Typically, companies take physical counts to keep perpetual records in line with actual

inventory on hand. Discrepancies between the actual inventory on hand and the perpetual records

Costs and Accounts

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

require inward or outward adjustments. If an inward adjustment is required, VISUAL costs this

adjustment as a new cost layer. Outward adjustments remove costs from an existing cost layer or

potentially remove an entire cost layer from inventory. When entering adjustments through inventory

transaction entry, you are required to assign a G/L account for the other side of the transaction. Raw

materials inventory is either debited or credited depending on the adjustment type. You must define

the G/L offset account to apply the other side of the transaction.

Direct Labor / Burden

– Labor charges are applied during labor ticket entry. Whether entering labor

charges through bar code or entering via a computer terminal station, costs are applied to the labor

ticket area. All costs for

setup

and

run

times are recorded into WIP via costing utilities. In order to

record direct labor in WIP, a debit is created to WIP labor, and a credit to Manufacturing Direct

payroll.

Burden (overhead) represents costs associated with the cost of manufacturing without the ability to

identify these cost to specific operations or jobs in WIP at any one point in time. For example, rent,

lighting, general plant maintenance, and depreciation are costs that every manufacturing environment

incurs but are not attributable to specific jobs in WIP.

Costing provides for the ability to set burden rates to attempt to capture these costs and allocate them

to jobs that flow through WIP. You can apply burden to raw materials inventory as well as to specific

operations used in the manufacturing process. Burden rates applied to raw materials inventory on the

part master file will cause burden to be charged each time the part is issued to a work order. Burden

costs assigned operations are applied to WIP at the time of Labor ticket entry.

The burden costs applied during labor ticket entry come from the settings assigned on the resource in

shop resource maintenance. The burden rate is derived either from the operation set in shop

resource maintenance, on the operation in the bill of materials. The determination of whether cost are

extended from the resource or the work order depends on the

Burden Basis

setting as defined on

the

Cost

tab in application global. If you select

Determined by Resource Burden

, the settings are

examined in Resource Maintenance to determine the appropriate amount of burden to apply. If you

select

Determined by Operation Burden

in application global, then the amounts applied on the work

order are used to determine the amount of burden.

Indirect Labor

– Indirect labor is applied in the same manner as direct labor; the only difference is the

transaction type in the Labor Ticket Entry window must be set to

Indirect

rather than

Setup

Run

Indirect labor is not charged to specific jobs. Costs associated with indirect labor are reclassed from

manufacturing payroll to the appropriate manufacturing indirect labor G/L account(s).

Shipments (Sales)

– Shipments of customer orders cause specific transactions to take place within

the system. Costs accumulated in work in process are marked as

Closed

. Inventory costs (WIP) then

flow through to cost of sales in the general ledger in two distinct entries. The first entry reclassifies

work in process costs to finished goods inventory. The second entry records the transfer of finished

goods inventory to Cost of sales to properly match costs with revenue as required by generally

accepted accounting principles.

Standard

– In standard costing, material is applied at the standard cost in the parts’ database. Any

difference between the purchase price of the material and the standard is taken as a variance when

the Purchase Receiver is matched to the invoice in A/P Invoice entry. Labor and burden are applied

based on the standard rates obtained from the shop resource.

Actual

– With actual costing, cost information is collected as it occurs. In Accounting Entity

Maintenance, you must specify the source of the raw material cost. The two options for Source of

Raw Material Cost are:

Costs and Accounts

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5 – 27

• A/P Invoicing

• Purchase Order

A/P Invoice Based

– Until you enter the invoice and VISUAL matches it to the receipt, A/P Invoice-

based material costs are valued at purchase order dollar amounts. As the receipts are costed at

actual invoice prices, the corresponding issues for these material receipts are then costed at the

actual price. Because the actual cost is not known until invoiced, the standard cost is used from the

part’s database as a temporary value. When the actual value becomes available, VISUAL creates

adjustment distributions (if the previous standard was posted to G/L) for the difference between the

estimated (standard) cost and the actual cost.

Purchase Order Based

– Purchase Order based material costs use the value from the purchase

order. When the actual invoice is received and matched to the purchase order receipt, any difference

between the purchase order and the invoice value is booked as a purchase price variance.

If you are costing at invoice value and the material requirement for a job is linked to a purchase order,

the material is issued directly to the job upon receipt. Material is temporarily valued at the purchase

order price, not the part standard. Materials that are purchased under an actual cost system not for a

specific job are valued based on the First In First Out (FIFO) method of inventory valuation.

Actual costing uses the employee labor rate to cost labor transactions. Burden costs are applied

based on the rates set up for the shop resource. This can be established based on one or a

combination of these costs:

• Cost per Setup time

• Cost per Run time

• Cost per Unit produced

• Fixed Cost per Resource

• Percent of Setup and / or Run labor costs

There is a delay in the final determination of a work order cost when using actual costing. Before a

final cost can be calculated, these conditions must be met:

• All operations are completed

• All material requirements are issued to the work order

• All material issues are fully costed (receipts for which the material came from have been costed,

i.e. invoice received or sub work order receipt costed)

• The work order is closed

What is Actual and Projected Cost?

Actual cost

is the true value of the material and labor charged to a work order. Material value is

based on the FIFO cost layers established when materials are purchased and / or subassemblies are

finished and received into stock. Labor value is based on the rate per employee(s) working on the job

and the number of hours worked by the employee(s). Burden cost is calculated based on the

parameters, for each shop resource used, as defined in Shop Resource Maintenance.

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Projected cost

is calculated as the actual cost charged to the work order plus the remaining cost

based on the operations and material requirements to be completed at the estimated costs. Material

requirement costs to be completed are calculated based on the actual number of parts issued to the

work order. If the material issues, per requirement, are equal to or greater than the estimated material

requirement, VISUAL considers this complete. In other words actual will equal projected cost for this

requirement.

If the material issued to a job is less than that required per estimate, VISUAL considers this

requirement incomplete and calculates a remaining cost based on the remaining quantity to be issued

at estimated cost.

Labor requirements to complete are based on the quantity you enter in the quantity complete field or

a calculated quantity complete if the system is set to automatically compute quantity complete based

on hours. The remaining cost is calculated for each requirement, based on the remaining units to

complete, at the estimated hours multiplied by the estimated labor and burden rates.

Determining Whether Actual Cost or Projected Cost is Used

Projected unit cost is calculated as Projected Cost / Desired Qty. This unit cost is then multiplied by

the Received Quantity for a total Projected cost of the received quantity.

The total projected cost from this calculation is then compared to the total actual costs charged to the

work order. If the total actuals are greater than the calculated projection of the received quantity, this

projected cost is the value used for the quantity received. If total actual costs are less than projected,

the actual cost is the value used for the quantity received.

If the quantity received is equal to or greater than the desired quantity, actual costs are used.

See earlier in this chapter, for more information on Component Level Costing.

Manufacturing Cost Flow Overview

VISUAL implements actual costs for work orders as a function of inventory and labor transactions

placed against those work orders. All costs ultimately come from these two window controls.

When you first create a work order, it has no transactions. As inventory is issued and labor is posted

to the work order, the work order is given actual cost. Depending on the costing method you have

chosen for your system, the values used in these transactions are either based on part and resource

standards or actuals. Purchase orders, when received, effectively have an actual cost also. Similarly,

Customer orders, when shipped, have actuals associated with them. Just as work orders can be

shown to have an actual cost by totaling the issues and labor against it, so can a purchase order and

customer order by totaling the receipts and shipments, respectively, against them.

The Costing Utilities prepare inventory and labor transactions to be permanently Costed and Posted

to the General Ledger. Not all costing actions can be carried out on-line—for example, during normal

system interaction. A few actions must be performed in batch mode. The Costing Utilities program is

designed to perform those batch functions. The functions performed are:

• Receipt Transaction Costing (Work Orders)

Costs and Accounts

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

5 – 29

• Inventory Transaction Costing

• Prepare Purchase Journal Transactions

• Prepare WIP / FG Journal Transactions

• Prepare Shipments Journal Transactions

• Prepare Part Adjustment Journal Transactions

• Prepare Indirect Tx Journal Transactions

Purchase Receipts

Frequently run, daily or every other day Receipt Transaction Costing and Inventory Transaction

Costing. As purchase order receipts become invoiced and entered, the Inventory Transaction Costing

function takes the invoice cost information and costs the transactions that are being held because of

missing cost information (received Purchase Order not yet invoiced). The Receipt Transaction

Costing function checks open work orders and their receipts to “see” if all receipts can be costed. For

example, when an invoice is matched to its receipt, that receipt can now be costed and any issue

from that receipt (FIFO) can be costed. The costed issue has now affected the cost of a Work Order

or Customer Shipment. In the case of the Work Order, the receipt of the finished product can now be

valued with its final cost. The Receipt Transaction Costing function performs this step.

Direct Labor is reclassed from Payroll to Cost of Sale – Direct Labor Accounts.

Indirect Labor is reclassed from Payroll to Manufacturing Indirect Payroll.

Costing Flowchart

Purchase

Inventory

Raw Materials

Finished Goods

Service

Labor

Burden

Sale from

Work

Indirect

Labor

WIP

Work

Orders

Shipments

Sale of

Inventory

Revenue

Cost of

Sales

Factory

Overhead

Costs and Accounts

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Cost Flow Procedure

• Create Work Order & Requirements (Operations, Service, Costs, Status)

• Create Purchase Order for Material Requirements

• Receipt of Raw Material into Stock or to Work Order if Linked

Run Costing Utilities & prepare Purchase Journal Inv. temp valued at PO

• Enter A/P Invoices & Match to receipt & Post

• Issue Materials to Job if not linked

Run Costing Utilities & prepare Purchase and WIP Journals -Updates Material Costs to actual

Applies labor & burden to work order

• Enter Labor Tickets for Operations on Job

Run Costing Utilities & prepare Purchase and WIP Journals -Updates Material Costs to actual

Applies labor & burden to work order

• Finished product – Receive into stock & Ship – If linked to Customer Order = Ship

Run Costing Utilities & prepare WIP and Shipment Journals – Updates Work Order costs &

FG Inv. value. Relieves FG and debits COGS for shipments.

• Invoice Forms – Print Invoices & transfer into A/R module for posting to G/L

(Revenue recognition)

Costing Utilities – Running Receipt Transaction Costing (Work

Order Receipts)

A work order gathers actual cost from labor ticket postings or inventory transactions throughout its

life; however, the majority of the time its final actual cost is unknown. When the work order becomes

fully received or shipped, it is closed. After it becomes closed, the Receipt Transaction Costing

function permanently costs receipts for the work order. When the permanent cost is established, the

outgoing transactions can be costed (Issues of Work Order Receipts).

Run Receipt Transaction Costing if you are using either actual or standard costing. In actual costing,

this option evaluates the total order to “see” if all inventory transactions and operations have been

completed and final costed. If competed, this selection assigns a permanent cost to the receipt and

marks the work order as closed. If the work order is reopened at a later date, this option reevaluates

the work order for any cost changes and updates the receipt as needed. The issues from that receipt

are also updated.

In standard costing, this option determines the Manufacturing Variance that is taken. All receipts in a

standard cost system are valued at standard as soon as they are created. Depending upon costs

incurred in WIP, a variance will be taken for any deviation from standard.

Receipt Transaction Costing performs these actions:

Costs and Accounts

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5 – 31

• Examines newly created labor transactions and inventory transactions of any permanently costed

work order to “see” if changes have occurred since the work order became permanently costed. If

you have added any new transactions, the corresponding work order is no longer permanently

costed and is now reconsidered for costing.

Examines each work order that is not permanently costed and determines if the work order is

costable. A work order can be permanently costed if these conditions are met:

• The order is fully received or marked closed.

• The operations of the order are fully reported or marked completed.

• The material requirements of the order are fully issued or marked completed.

• The material issue transactions of the order are fully costed. Invoices have been received and

matched to receipts consumed by this work order.

If the work order being examined is costable, VISUAL takes its actual cost, determines the unit cost

for each cost category (MLBS) and saves the result in each inventory receipt of the work order. Then

it marks the work order as costed permanently (by setting COSTED_DATE to the current system date

/ time in the Work Order table).

• The first option allows you to assume that all operations and requirements for a work order are

closed if the work order is closed (fully received to stock), regardless of the complete status of the

individual requirements and operations. All material issues to the work order however, must have

a final cost. For example, a work order may require 100 pieces of an item per the estimate. If 90

pieces have been issued and fully costed, this option assumes that the job can be final costed.

• The second option allows the Receipt and Inventory Transaction costing to continue to run until

you have performed all updates to transactions. This box is checked by default. VISUAL is able to

capture all activity for a change in a Transaction in one step rather than having to run this multiple

times. For example, in actual costing, if an issue to a work order id fully costed by matching the

Accounts Payable Invoice with the Purchase Order Receiver, the work order that received the

material is considered for full cost. If the work order is closed, the receipt of the work order is fully

costed and therefore, any issue (shipment or issue to a higher level work order) of the received

work order, can now be costed. If this box is not checked, the receipt is not fully costed, and

therefore, the issue of the fabricated item to a higher level work order is not costed.

A single pass (box not checked) first values receipts, and then the issues from those receipts.

Because some receipts first require that issues are valued, a single pass does not always cost

everything that can be valued. You should leave this option checked. The only time it is not necessary

to leave this option checked is if all Bills of Materials for the product you fabricate are single level,

and, very few returns are made. Check this when costing inventory at month’s end. When the No

Updates Performed message appears, all activity to date has been costed. Under normal

circumstances, you should leave both of these options checked.

Inventory Transaction Costing

The Inventory Transaction option from the Costing Utilities window causes incoming transactions to

be related to outgoing transactions. Incoming costs represented by purchased part receipts or

adjustments to inventory are matched to outgoing costs represented by material issues, shipments,

and adjustments to inventory. Before any costs can be assigned to an outgoing transaction, VISUAL

must first have a permanent cost for an incoming transaction.

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The primary source of incoming costs is the purchased part receipt. Another source of incoming costs

is a work order receipt from work in process. We already know that labor tickets are given a

permanent cost when they are created. Purchased part receipts may not be given a permanent cost

at any time of receipt. If costs for purchase part receipts are identified from Purchase Orders, then the

transaction is given its final value upon creation. If costs for purchased part receipts are identified

from A/P Invoices, then the transaction must wait for its permanent cost until the matching A/P Invoice

is entered. After the purchased part inventory receipt is given its final, permanent value, costs are

distributed from that transaction. This is done by connecting the receipt to one or more outgoing

transactions for the same part. For example, a receipt of 1000 parts can be distributed to an issue of

1000 parts, 10 issues of 100 parts, or 1000 issues of 1 part, or any combination in between.

The order of assignment of transactions is First-In, First-Out (FIFO).

The Inventory Transaction Costing function examines each inventory part’s incoming inventory

transactions that have not been fully distributed and assigns them to the same part’s outgoing

inventory transactions that have not been previously assigned.

VISUAL maintains a table where it can locate all affected transactions when a given value has

changed. For instance, a change to an A/P Invoice after its original entry would potentially have an

affect which proceeds all the way to the Cost of Goods Sold account, assuming that the finished part

which used the purchased part being costed has already been shipped.

As purchased part receipts are costed, material issues are costed. In turn, material issues are part of

the cost of a work order. The cost of these material issues affects the receipt costs for parts coming

from the work order. After all details of the work order are costed, the receipts of the work order can

be costed. Those costs are then distributed to either material issue costs (when the part is used in the

fabrication of another work order) or to shipment costs (when the part is a finished good and is

shipped to a customer). The process of costing inventory transactions spirals up the bill of material

and routing (i.e. engineering structure) until it becomes part of inventory or cost of goods sold.

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Preparing Manufacturing Journals

Manufacturing Journals are prepared by the Costing Utility application. Each journal is the result of an

analysis of inventory transactions, and if applicable, labor tickets. These procedures create summary

journal transactions called distributions, which are then ready for posting to the General Ledger. Each

journal is a subsidiary journal similar in nature to the Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable

journals. The journals must be posted using the Post Manufacturing Journals function.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, prepare manufacturing journals on a site-by-site basis.

The Costing Utility may create several distributions for each order. If an order is open for more than

one period, it typically has multiple distributions. If you run the Costing Utilities more than once during

the period and post the results, multiple distributions are created. The Costing Utilities remove any

unposted transactions for the period being processed and replace them with up to date transactions.

This simplifies the resulting distributions allowing a summary to occur across all available

transactions. If you run the Costing Utilities and do not post the results, the unposted transactions are

picked up in a subsequent batch the next time you run the Costing Utilities. However, you do not lose

the distributions created by the previous Costing Utility run. They are added to the current distribution.

Any difference between what you are posting on the Work In Process (WIP) journal and Indirect

Labor journal and the labor expense that results from your payroll transactions can usually be

accounted for as one of these possible situations:

• You are not entering all transactions in VISUAL. Sometimes indirect labor is not entered as a

labor ticket in VISUAL.

• Your payroll system’s employee rate information is different from the employee rate used by

VISUAL.

• Your office or salaried employee expense is mixed with the direct/indirect labor posting being

made from your payroll system.

Labor tickets are costed immediately when created. Therefore, there is no delay in obtaining this

information. Also, burden is calculated at labor ticket creation.

Material burden is applied only when a material is issued to a work order. It is not intended to capture

inventory storage costs, nor does it affect the value of inventory as it waits for use. The act of issuing

the material to a work order causes the work order to be burdened for the material. This cost appears

in the Burden column of a work order. Each part received from the work order contains a share of the

burden applied as a result of this process. This material burden can be in addition to the burden

applied from the shop resource. For more information on Burden Issue, refer to the Part Maintenance

chapter.

When a material issue to a work order drives the on-hand quantity for a part into negative numbers,

this occurs in an Actual cost database:

Material Cost

– Only the quantity that was actually on hand is costed to the work order. The

additional quantity issued that drove the on-hand quantity into negative numbers is issued at the

standard costs defined in Part Maintenance. If you are licensed to use multiple sites, these costs are

defined on a site-by-site basis.

Issue Burden

– Issue Burdens are handled as:

•

Unit Burden

– Because this figure is based on the number of pieces issued, the unit burden for

the total quantity issued is costed.

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•

Percent Burden

– This figure is based on a percentage of the material cost.

There are six Manufacturing Sub-Ledger Journals. Each of these journals are discussed in this

section.

• Purchase Receipts Journal (PUR) – Order Based

• Work Order Journal (WIP) – Order Based

• Finished Goods Receipt Journal (FG) – Order Based

• Shipments Journal (SLS) – Order Based

• Inventory Adjustment Journal (ADJ) – Transaction Based

• Indirect Labor Journal (IND) – Transaction Based

Purchase Journals

Purchase Journals use the site on the Purchase Order line to determine which site owns the

purchase transaction costs. Since you can enter a purchase order for multiple sites, this ensures that

the correct site owns the costs associated with its purchasing activity.

The Purchase Journal contains a listing of the summary transactions created by the Costing Utilities.

These summary transactions are the results of processing inventory transactions of purchase orders

and receipts of services from the vendor that are linked to a Purchase Order. These are receipts (or

returns) of each part.

Each purchase order received (or returned) during the period is examined for its current value by

summing the inventory receipts attached to the purchase order. These receipts are summarized by G/

L account number for each PO. In other words, if three lines on a PO were received at $100.00 each

and the debiting G/L account was the same, a sub-ledger distribution for this PO would be made for

$300.00. However, if each debiting account was different, three sub-ledger distributions would be

made for $100.00 each. Any existing distributions which have been posted for the period are

deducted. The resulting distribution is then saved for the purchase order.

The purchase journals taken together for a given period represent the total purchase receipts for all

types of purchases of manufacturing material and expense items for that period.

Purchase Receipt Journals

The Purchase Order accrual account from the G/L Interface is used for all Purchase Order receipts.

This account is debited when the A/P Invoice is matched to the Purchase Order Receipt. If a

Purchase Order line item is linked to job requirement(s), this journal posts the receipt and the WIP

journal posts the automatic issue that occurs when the Purchase Order is received.

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Work In Process (WIP) Journals

The Work In Process Journal contains a listing of the summary transactions created by the Costing

Utilities as a result of processing inventory transactions and labor tickets to work orders. These are

issues (or returns) of materials and posting of labor to work orders during the period.

Each work order that has material issued (or returned) to it, or labor entered for it, during the period is

examined for its current value. The actual value of a work order comes entirely from inventory

transactions and labor tickets. Any existing distributions that have been posted are deducted from the

current value, and the difference is made into a new distribution for the work order. This journal is

order based and not transaction based.

The WIP journals taken together for a given period represent the total usage of material and the total

value added by the manufacturing process for that period.

Miscellaneous charges posted to the job from payables are posted to the general ledger via the

Accounts Payable Invoice journal. However, these values are relieved from WIP when the order is

received to finished goods or shipped.

The value that VISUAL determines for labor and burden in this journal are absorbed labor and

burden. Absorbed labor and burden are temporarily placed in Work In Process Inventory, and

ultimately flow into Finished Goods Inventory, and then finally to Cost of Goods Sold.

Finished Goods Journals

The Finish Goods Journal contains a listing of the summary transactions created by the Costing

Utilities as a result of processing inventory transactions of work orders. These are receipts (or

returns) of manufactured parts from the floor to finished goods inventory. This journal is work order

based and not transaction based.

Finished Goods Journals in Actual WIP Costing

If you selected Actual as your WIP costing method, the system values that transaction at the total

accumulated cost on the work order at that time when a partial quantity is moved from WIP to finished

goods. If another partial quantity moves to stock, the system values that transaction with the costs

accumulated between the previous transaction and this one. This continues until the work order is

completed and closed. When the work order is closed, the Costing Utilities evaluate the total cost of

the work order versus completed transactions and creates adjustment distributions for any

differences.

Finished Goods Journals in Projected WIP Costing

If you selected Projected as your WIP costing method, the system values that transaction at the

estimated unit cost based on the work order at that time when a partial quantity is moved from WIP to

finished goods.

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Costing Considerations for Finished Goods Returns

If you use FIFO by Part Location as the FIFO method, review this information to ensure that work

order receipts and returns are processed as anticipated.

FIFO locations are not maintained for finished goods returns. To make sure that FIFO layers are

matched for finished goods return transactions, it is highly recommended that you use one

warehouse location per work order for work order receipts and potential finished goods returns. You

do not need to use one warehouse location for all of your work orders. You should just make sure that

for any given work order, you use the same location for work order receipts as you do for finished

goods returns.

If business needs dictate that you need to use a different warehouse location for receipts and returns,

you should review and physically adjust locations after you create finished goods returns. If you

receive a quantity from a work order to one location, transfer the quantity to a second location, then

return the quantity to the work order, the relationship between the adjust out FIFO layers will be lost.

The distribution for the transfer to the second location and the original receipt will be separated. The

receipt return is directly distributed to the original receipt.

If you do need to use different warehouse locations for work order receipts and returns, you can use

these reports to analyze the transactions:

Inventory Transaction Report

– Use this report to view when work order returns have been made.

Sort the report by Work Order and Type of Receipt to identify receipts. Negative amounts indicate

returns.

You can also use this report, sorted by Warehouse/Location/Part, to analyze part location quantity.

The layer costs are expressed as current value, not as the value as of a particular point in time.

Costing Tools

– You can use the Cost Distribution Analysis tool and FIFO/Average Costing Analysis

tool to view distributions.

Inventory Balance Report

– Use this report to view costed values of transactions as of a period end.

The total of this report will reconcile, but if you use separate locations for work order receipts and

returns, the amounts reported by location will not reconcile.

Shipments Journals

The Shipments Journal contains a listing of the summary transactions created by the Costing Utilities

as a result of processing inventory transactions of customer orders. These are shipments (or returns)

for parts sold to customers. This is a customer order based sub-ledger and is not transactional.

Shipments can occur for items stocked in finished goods or, if the customer order is linked to the work

order, directly from the work order. If the product is shipped from finished goods, the value booked to

cost of goods sold is the value booked to finished goods from the Finished Goods journal on a FIFO

basis.

Shipping Journals in Actual WIP Costing

If you selected Actual as your WIP costing method and a partial shipment of a customer order linked

to a work order is made, the system books to cost of goods sold the total cost accumulated to date on

the work order. A second shipment will be at the cost accumulated between the previous shipment

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and this one. When the final shipment is made and the work order closed, if there is any difference

between the total cost of the work order and the costs already transacted, the system creates

adjustment distributions for this difference.

Because of this methodology, if partial shipments occur across accounting periods, there is the

potential that cost of goods sold in a particular period may be under or over stated.

In actual costing it is possible that cost variances for a job are posted in a period for which no

shipment was made.

For example, if an order with a total value of $4,000 ships in February, this value is posted to the Cost

of Goods Sold account(s). If an invoice for material used on the job comes in on March 15, any

difference in cost (Purchase value vs. Invoice) is posted to the current periods Cost of Goods Sold.

Shipping Journals in Projected WIP Costing

If you selected Projected as your WIP costing method and a partial shipment of a customer order

linked to a work order is made, the system values that transaction at the estimated unit cost based on

the work order at that time when a partial quantity is moved from WIP to finished goods.

Inventory Adjustment Journals (Adjust In or Out)

This journal contains a listing of the summary transactions created by the Costing Utilities as a result

of processing inventory transactions of parts that adjusted inventory quantity on hand. This journal

also includes transactions created from inter branch transfers and other actions that result in an

adjust in or adjust out inventory transaction.

You must value incoming adjustments (increases in quantity on hand) when costing at actual. Use the

current standard from the Part Master or override the value manually when the transaction is created.

This action provides a cost per unit and therefore a total cost for every incoming adjustment

transaction. All adjustments into inventory created by the Physical Inventory module are made at

standard. Therefore, it is extremely important that all item masters contain a standard if you use the

physical inventory module.

Adjustments that are outgoing (decreases in quantity on hand) must be valued by the same inventory

costing method used to distribute costs from receipts to issues (Costing Utilities, Inventory

Transaction Costing). You cannot set the dollar value of an outgoing adjustment.

This journal totals the value of each such transaction and posts it to the financials via this subsidiary

ledger. This journal is transactional. That is, each transaction results in a separate distribution to the

appropriate accounts.

Indirect Labor Journals

The Indirect Labor journal contains a listing of the summary transactions created by the Costing

Utilities as a result of processing labor tickets which are not for a specific work order.

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Indirect labor tickets are posted transactionally, in a manner similar to the adjustment journal covered

earlier in this chapter.

Example Postings for Journals

The account used is based on how you elect to implement your system. You can use a lowest level

G/L interface account or specify the accounts to use at the Part, Work Order, or Product Code level.

This should be decided early on in the implementation of the system.

These transaction templates are used for each journal type:

Purchase Receipt Journals

Use the Product Code Account table, then part inventory account if the line item expense account is

left blank. If the PO line item account, the Product Code Part Inventory or the part inventory accounts

are blank, the Default Inventory account in the G/L Interface is used.

The PO accrual account from the G/L Interface is used for all PO receipts. This account is credited

when the A/P Invoice is matched to the Purchase Order Receipt.

When a Purchase Order line item is linked to job requirement(s), the journal posts the receipt and the

WIP journal posts the automatic issue that occurs when the PO is received.

Work Order Journals

• For debit transactions, first attempts to use work order WIP accounts, then the Product Code WIP

accounts, and then default WIP accounts from the General Ledger Interface table.

• For credit transactions, first attempts to use shop resource absorption account, then default

absorption accounts from the General Ledger Interface table.

Finished Goods Receipts Journals

• For debit transactions, use the part accounts, then the Product Code accounts, then default

inventory accounts from the General Ledger Interface table.

• For credit transactions, first attempts to use work order WIP accounts, then the Product Code

accounts, then default WIP accounts from the Interface table.

• Manufacturing variance account from the Product Code Interface table, then the General Ledger

Account Interface (standard cost only).

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Sales (Shipments) Journals

• For debit transactions, first attempts to use line item COGS accounts from the Customer Order

Entry, then the Product Code COGS Account, then default COGS accounts from the General

Ledger Interface table.

• For credit transactions, first attempts to use the part accounts, then the Product Code Account,

then default inventory accounts from the General Ledger interface table.

Inventory Adjustment Journals

• For debit transactions, first attempts to use the part accounts, then the Product Code accounts,

then default inventory accounts from the General Ledger.

• For credit transactions, first attempts to use the account specified by the user in the Inventory

Transaction, then the default Adjustment Account from the Product Code table, and then the

default Inventory Adjustment Account from the Interface table.

Indirect Labor Journals

• For debit transactions, first attempts to use the account specified by the user in the Labor

transaction, then default indirect labor account from the General Ledger Interface table.

• Uses the Factory Payroll Account from the General Ledger Interface table.

Note that each template attempts to apply a specific account, usually an overridden account entered

by the user for the specific order or the Product Code table, and then falls back on the interface

account as the default. Thus, the user must setup the interface in the event that an account is not

overridden.

If you override one account in the specific category but leave the other accounts blank, the interface

table accounts are used for the blank fields. To ensure that you always get the result you expect,

override all four accounts, even if it is the same account in each category.

In entries that end with (s) in the templates above, signifying more than one account, more than one

transaction may be produced based on the user’s specified account numbers. Every attempt is made

to eliminate duplicate accounts on either side of the transaction.

Reporting Invoices Charged Directly to Work Orders

Use the Work Order Cost Report as a means of tracking direct charges to the work order from the A/P

Invoice by Comparative Totals and Comparative Totals with breakdown. Direct Charges involve

Material and Service only.

For each material requirement and operation, this information is shown:

• Quantity

• Estimated Cost = Estimated Material + Labor + Burden + Service

• Actual Cost = Actual Material + Labor + Burden + Service

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• Variance = Estimated – Actual

• Projected = Projected Material + Labor + Burden + Service

Comparative Totals with Breakdowns include Material, Labor, Burden and Service costs broken out

into separate sections before being totaled. Invoices charged directly to the Work Order are also

listed separately. Additionally, setup time and run times are split for operations.

Manually Running Costing in the Costing Utilities Window

Use the Costing Utilities window to run costing manually at any time. You can also set up a service to

run costing. See "Running Costing with the Costing Service" on page 5–42 in this guide.

There are two sections to the Costing Utilities window. The upper portion is used to update costs

related to Work Orders and inventory transactions. If you are running VISUAL without VISUAL

Financials, you need only to select these two options.

The bottom half of the Costing Utilities window is where you can have the system prepare the

manufacturing journals. Even though the window has a message that says to run these on a monthly

basis, that is meant as a minimum. It is recommended that these journals be prepared and posted on

a more frequent basis during the month to reduce the amount processing required to close your

month. The frequency depends on the amount of activity generated by your business.

The default posting date that appears in the dialog box is the last fiscal period’s ending date. You can

overwrite this field to enter another (appropriate) date (i.e. current system or month end date). If you

enter a current period date and the prior period is open, VISUAL prompts you with a message stating

that you cannot process the current period information until you close the previous period. This is to

prevent any information not posted in the previous period from being posted in the current period.

For example, if on the last day of the month, you enter transactions but do not post, and on the 10th

day of the new month you elect to post the new month's activity, all transactions not recorded in the

journals for the current and previous month are recorded and posted to the current period.

The reason for this is that costs are posted according to the value of the order (Purchase Order,

Customer Order or Work Order) and not the individual transactions. The transactions are used to tell

VISUAL when the change took place so that the current value of the order can be posted to the period

for which the transaction took place.

For example, if a Purchase Order is received on the last day of the month for $100.00, the Costing

Utility posts $100.00 to the inventory account for that period. If on the 10th day of the new month, an

invoice is matched to the receiver for $110.00, the variance of $10.00 will be posted in the new month

because the previous month is closed. To post these variances to the previous month, you must

reopen the month and run the Costing Utilities up through the end of the previous month. All

variances for activity occurring in the previous month(s) will be posted to the month reopened. The

Costing Utilities ignore all activity after that date.

It is also recommended that you complete the final preparation of journals for the prior period before

you prepare journals for the current period. Post Manufacturing Balance reports could be impacted if

a new period is prepared before the last preparation of a prior period's journal.

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Running Costing Utilities

To prepare the manufacturing journals:

From the main window, select the

Costing Utilities

option on the Eng/Mfg menu.

Click

Setup

To assume that all materials and operations are closed if the work order is closed, select this

check box.

To repeat the costing run until it cannot find updates to perform, select the

Continue Running...

check box. If you select this check box, click in the

Cycles are performed

text box and enter the

number of costing runs to perform. Leave the field empty to continue processing until all

transactions have been costed. If you specify a 0, this value is considered the same as the value

of 1.

Click

The Setup dialog closes.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the Site ID arrow and select the site for which you

are preparing manufacturing journals. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is

unavailable.

Select inventory related costing options:

Receipt Transaction Costing

– VISUAL updates your work order receipt costs with the most up-

to-date receipt transaction data. Actual cost transactions are updated for Closed orders and

partial receipts are updated based upon WIP costing method.

Standard Costs are used to determine Finished Goods Variances.

Inventory Transaction Costing

– VISUAL updates your inventory costs with your most up-to-

date receipt transaction data. If you use the Standard costing method, this option is not displayed.

Note:

To keep your costing values up to date, run the Costing Utilities with these settings often.

You do not have to generate distributions until you are ready to post to your ledgers.

When you are ready to generate journals, select the appropriate check boxes for the journals to

prepare:

Note:

This function only prepares the journals: you must use the Post Manufacturing Journals

program to post distributions to your ledger. To prepare distributions only, select the journals to

create and clear the two check boxes in the top section of the window.

• Purchase Journal Transactions

• WIP/FG Journal Transactions

• Shipments Journal Transactions

• Part adjustment Journal Transactions

• Indirect Transactions Journal Transactions

Click the

Run

toolbar button.

As the Costing Utility runs, the current part appears in the Costing Utility window.

Note:

To stop the costing process, click the

Stop

toolbar button.

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When the costing run has finished, an information dialog appears notifying you of the costing

results. This information is also stored in the VMAPLUTL.log file.

Click

on the dialog box.

Click the

Exit

toolbar button on the Costing Utility.

To post the distributions you have created, you must use the Post Manufacturing Journals program

located in the Ledger menu.

Running Costing with the Costing Service

You can use the Costing Service to run costing automatically on the days and times you specify. If

you have multiple sites and would like to run the service for all sites, then you must install the service

once for each site.

To specify when to run the service, use the Costing Service Schedule dialog in the Costing Utilities

window. You can specify one schedule for running inventory costs options and a separate schedule

for preparing manufacturing journals. You can use the service to run costing up to six times a day.

You can set up one costing schedule for each site. Users that have access to the Costing Service

Schedule dialog in the Costing Utilities window can edit the schedule for their allowable sites. The

system administrator can control which users have access to the Costing Service dialog.

After the service is installed and the service schedule is set up, the database is examined based on

the polling interval you specify to see if costing needs to be run. When the service finds that costing

needs to be run, the service runs costing based on the settings you specify in the Set as Scheduled

dialog.

If you prepare manufacturing journals with the Costing Service, you must post the journals manually

using the Post Manufacturing Journals window. The Costing Service does not post manufacturing

journals.

If you set up the Costing Service, you can still run costing utilities manually.

Preparing Manufacturing Journals Using the Costing Service

You can use the Costing Service to run costing only in the current period or the period immediately

prior to the current period. In both cases the period prior to the period in which you are running

costing must be closed.

For example, presume you use a monthly financial calendar. Today is April 24th and the service is

scheduled to run. This table shows scenarios when the Costing Service can be used and when the

costing service cannot be used:

Scenario Can I use the Costing Service?

April is open and March is closed.

Yes.

Costing is run for April. The default

posting date used for journals is April 30.

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These rules and scenarios apply to journal preparation only. You can run receipt transaction costing

and inventory transaction costing with the service at any time.

Installing the Costing Service

The computer where you install a service must have these components installed:

•

VSRVANY.EXE

– VSRVANY.EXE is a VISUAL tool that allows the service executables to be run

as a service. VSRVANY.EXE must be installed in the same directory as the service executables.

VSRVANY.EXE is installed with the VISUAL installer.

•

SC.EXE

– SC.EXE is a Microsoft Windows tool used to make modifications to services and to

remove services. SC.EXE is commonly installed with Microsoft Windows. Run a Microsoft

Windows search to verify that SC.EXE is installed. SC.EXE does not have to be in the same

directory as the services executables; you can leave SC.EXE in the directory where Microsoft

installed it.

•

Unify Runtimes

– You must also have the Unify runtimes for your version of VISUAL installed on

the computer where you run the service.

The Costing Service is installed by site. If you have multiple sites, install the service for each site

where you want to use the service to run costing.

To install the service:

In your VISUAL executables directory, locate VMCSTSVC.EXE.

Right-click VMCSTSVC.EXE and select

Run as Administrator

. The Sign In dialog is displayed.

Specify this information:

User ID

– Specify the user ID that the service uses to sign into the VISUAL database. This can be

any valid VISUAL user ID who has access to the site for which you are setting up the service. This

user must also have security permissions to access Costing Utilities (VMAPLUTL.exe)

April is open, March is open, and February is

closed.

Yes.

Costing is run for March. The default

posting date used for journals is March 31.

April is open, March is open, February is

closed, and January is open.

Yes.

Costing is run for March only. The default

posting date used for journals is March 31.

April is open, March is open, and February is

open.

No.

The Costing Service can only run costing in

the current period or in the period immediately

prior to the current period.

April is open, March is open, but manufacturing

journals have already been prepared or posted

in April.

No.

You should run costing manually to ensure

that costs are generated as you expect.

April is closed, March is open, and February is

closed.

Yes.

Costing is run for March, provided that no

manufacturing journals have been prepared or

posted in April.

Scenario Can I use the Costing Service?

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Password

– Specify the password associated with the user ID.

Database

– Specify the database on which to run the service.

Click

. The name and description of the service is displayed.

Specify this information:

Site ID

– Specify the ID of the site where you want to run costing with the service.

Log File Directory

– Specify where to store the log file for the service.

Polling Interval

– Specify how frequently the service should check for updates. The maximum

value is 900 seconds.

Log Level

– Specify the level of information to write to the log file. Click one of these options:

None

– To write the time the service started, click this option. This option is recommended for

normal production environments.

Error

– To write the time the service started and any error messages, click this option.

Info

– To write to the time the service started, error messages, and additional information

about the service, click this option. The use of this option is recommended only if you are

troubleshooting issues with the service. When you use this option, the size of the log file

grows quickly.

The log file's name is VMCSTSVC_[Your Site Name].log. The size of the log file is limited to 1 MB.

When the log file approaches 1 MB, the log is renamed to VMCSTSVC_[Your Site

Name]_[Current date time].log, and a new VMCSTSVC_[Your Site Name].log is created.

Click

Install Service

To start the service now, click

Yes

. To start the service later, click

. If you click No, you can start

the service in the Windows control panel.

To install the service for another site, repeat steps 5 through 7. Repeat these steps for each site

where you want to run costing with the service.

Scheduling the Costing Service

After you install the Costing Service, specify when the Costing Service should be prompted to run

costing for a site.

You can set up different schedules for transaction costing and journal preparation. For example, you

can schedule the Costing Service to run transaction costing daily and prepare manufacturing journals

weekly.

To schedule the Costing Service:

Select

Eng/Mfg

Costing Utilities

In the site ID field, select the site where you will run costing utilities with the service. Make sure

you select a site for which you have installed the Costing Service.

Select

File

Costing Service Schedule

. The ID of the site you selected is displayed in the title bar

of the dialog.

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Specify when the service is active. Specify this information:

Start Date

– Specify the date that the service should start checking to see if costing needs to be

run. Leave this field blank or specify today’s date if you do not want to delay the start of the

service.

End Date

– Specify the last date that the service should check to see if costing needs to be run.

Leave this field blank if you do not want to set up an expiration date for the service.

Enabled

– To use the service with the selected site, select this check box. To stop using the

service, clear this check box.

In the Run Type section, weekly is selected. You cannot change this selection. This selection

indicates that the service should check for updates only on the days and times you specify.

In the Transaction Costing section, specify the settings to use when the service runs transaction

costing. Specify this information:

Receipt Transaction Costing

– To update your work order receipt costs with the most up-to-date

receipt transaction data, select this check box. Actual cost transactions are updated for Closed

orders and partial receipts are updated based upon WIP costing method.

Standard Costs are used to determine Finished Goods Variances.

Inventory Transaction Costing

– To update your inventory costs with your most up-to-date

receipt transaction data, select this check box. If you use the Standard costing method, this option

is not displayed.

Assume that operations and materials are closed if work order is closed

– To automatically

close any operations and materials on a closed work order during the costing run, select this

check box. To retain the current status of any operation and material cards on a closed work

order, clear this check box.

Specify when to run transaction costing. Specif this information:

Days of Week

– In the Days of Week section under the Transaction Costing section, specify on

which days to run transaction costing with the service.

Run At

– Specify the times of day that the service should check to see if transaction costing

should be run. The times you specify apply to all days that you run the service for transaction

costing. You can run the service up to 6 times a day. If you select a day in the Days of Week

section but leave all Run At fields blank, then the service is run at 12:00 AM on the days you

selected.

In the Journal Preparation section, use the check boxes to specify which journals to prepare when

the service runs costing. Then, specify when to prepare the journals. Specify this information:

Days of Week

– In the Days of Week section under the Journal Preparation section, specify on

which days to prepare journals using the service.

Run At

– Specify the times of day that the service should check to see if journals need to be

prepared. The times you specify apply to all days that you run the service for journal preparation.

You can run the service up to 6 times a day. If you select a day in the Days of Week section but

leave all Run At fields blank, then the service is run at 12:00 AM on the days you selected.

Click

Save

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Deactivating the Costing Service Schedule for a Site

To deactivate the service schedule for a particular site:

Select

Eng/Mfg

Costing Utilities.

In the site ID field, select the site where you will run costing utilities with the service. Make sure

you select a site for which you have installed the Costing Service.

Select

File

Costing Service Schedule

. The ID of the site you selected is displayed in the title bar

of the dialog.

Clear the

Enabled

check box.

Click

Save

Deleting the Costing Service Schedule for a Site

You can delete the service schedule for a site without removing the Costing Service.

To delete a Costing Service schedule:

Select

Eng/Mfg

Costing Utilities.

In the site ID field, select the site where you will run costing utilities with the service. Make sure

you select a site for which you have installed the Costing Service.

Select

File

Costing Service Schedule

. The ID of the site you selected is displayed in the title bar

of the dialog.

Click

Delete

Click

. Do not click Save before you click Close. If you click Save before you click Close, the

service schedule is recreated.

Removing the Costing Service

To remove the service for a site:

In your VISUAL executables directory, locate VMCSTSVC.EXE.

Right-click VMCSTSVC.EXE and select

Run as Administrator

. The Sign In dialog is displayed.

Specify this information:

User ID

– Specify the user ID that the service uses to sign into the VISUAL database. This can be

any valid VISUAL user ID.

Password

– Specify the password associated with the user ID.

Database

– Specify the database on which to run the service.

Click

In the Site ID field, specify the ID of the site where you no longer want to run the Costing Service.

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Click

Remove Service

WIP / Costing – Table Related Discussion

Every transaction in VISUAL affects one or more database tables. Some database tables hold detail

transaction records from original sources of entry, for example, purchases, inventory transactions,

labor tickets, payable entries. Other database tables record and hold summary information for other

programs as well as reports to use as a feed of information. Summary database tables reduce the

amount of work the system needs to do to produce accounting entries as well as provide report

information. Because the same data is written in various forms to various tables in the database, it is

important to keep these tables synchronized.

There are basically three kinds of database tables used to track costing related information—the

bridge between manufacturing and financials.

Transaction Tables

– Transaction tables hold transaction level information. These tables form the

underlying cost information that the costing utilities use to populate the other tables it needs to keep

track of WIP details, G/L postings and WIP balances.

Hosting Tables

– VISUAL stores all of your debit and credits in hosting tables.

Summary Tables

– Summary tables record and hold summary information for other programs as well

as reports to use as a feed of information.

Table A:

Layer Inv.

Parts

Hand

# of Layers In

Inv. Bal.

WIP

Balan

Invent

ory

Balanc

Txn

# Type In Out

1 1 P/O Receipt 50 50 50 @ 2.00 = 100.00 100

2 2 P/O Receipt

150

100 @ 2.50 =

250.00

350

3 1

1Issue 75 units

to a WO

50 0 50 @ 2.00 = 100.00 162.5 187.5

2 25 75 25 @ 2.50 = 62.50

4 2

Beginning

Balance

75 (One FIFO Layer) 187.5

3 P/O Receipt

100

100 @ 2.60 =

260.00

447.5

Beginning

Balance

175 (Two FIFO Layers) 447.5

4 Issue Return

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Table B:

(Ave. txn #3) 10 185 10 @ 2.167 = 21.67

140.8

469.17

Beginning

Balance

185 (Three FIFO Layers)

140.8

469.17

Issue 180 units

to a W/O

75 0 75 @ 2.50 = 187.50

458.3

Issue 180 units

to a W/O

100 @ 2.60 =

260.00

Issue 180 units

to a W/O

5 5 5 @ 2.167 = 10.83

Beginning

Balance

5 (One FIFO Layer)

599.1

10.84

WIP Issue

Return

65 @ 2.167 =

140.85

115 35 @ 2.546 = 89.11

(per unit cost =

2.299)

Beginning

Balance

105

(2 FIFO Layers

remain)

547.8

240.8

5 @ 2.168 = 10.84

100 @ 2.2996 =

229.96

Transaction Type Normal Return/Correction

Debit Credit Debit Credit

Adjustment Inventory Adjustments Adjustments Inventory

Transfer (In) No Entry No Entry

Transfer (Out) No Entry No Entry

P/O Receipts

(Parts and Service) Inventory

Purchase

Accrual

Purchase

Accrual

Inventory

Layer Inv.

Parts

Hand

# of Layers In

Inv. Bal.

WIP

Balan

Invent

ory

Balanc

Txn

# Type In Out

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Multi-Currency in Costing

VISUAL supports a wide range of Multi-Currency features. VISUAL determines and converts

historical balances for tracking currency accounts based on either the exchange rate when the

transaction originated or the system date when the transaction originated, depending upon your

selection in Accounting Entity Maintenance. VISUAL revalues account balances to reflect the

appropriate values for System and Tracking currencies whereby every transaction balances in

system, and transaction currency to the current rate.

Accounts Payable

(Direct)

Work-in-

Process

Accounts

Payable

Accounts

Payable

Work-in-

Process

W/O Receipts Inventory

Work-in-

Process

Work-in-

Process

Inventory

Inventory Issue

Work-in-

Process

Inventory Inventory

Work-in-

Process

Services

Work-in-

Process

Purchase

Accrual

Purchase

Accrual

Work-in-

Process

Labor

Work-in-

Process

Direct labor Direct labor

Work-in-

Process

Burden

Work-in-

Process

Applied

Overhead

Applied

Overhead

Work-in-

Process

Indirect Labor Indirect Labor Direct labor Direct labor Indirect Labor

Shipments (2 parts)

Linked Orders

Transfer to Finished

Goods

Inventory

Work-in-

Process

Work-in-

Process

Inventory

Transfer to Cost of

Sales

Cost of Good

Sold

Inventory Inventory

Cost of Good

Sold

Shipments Finished

Goods

Shipment Cost of Sales Inventory

Return (RMA) Inventory Cost of Sales

Transaction Type Normal Return/Correction

Debit Credit Debit Credit

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Tracking costs of materials by currency is provided by the tracking currency feature. Because the

material cost is quantitative it is processed at it’s historical value. You can run costing utilities as often

as needed (perhaps daily) for purposes of applying Labor and Burden. All Labor and Burden (indirect)

costs use the rate in existence based on the transaction date or system date as defined in Accounting

Entity Maintenance.

Cost Movements

VISUAL accumulates the appropriate currency values from Inventory or Service Charges and

Estimated Bookings to calculate material costs. Each quantitative cost is tracked at its historical

currency rate / value at the time of transaction entry to a work order based on the exchange rate

dates for applying the exchange rate as set in Accounting Entity Maintenance.

Inventory Valuation

VISUAL values inventory using the FIFO (First In, First Out) method. The FIFO method of inventory

valuation assigns cost to inventory in cost layers. Each addition (purchase, inventory receipt, or

adjust-in) adds a new cost layer. Each subtraction (issue, sale, or adjust-out) removes one or more

cost layers. For every tracking currency held by the database, VISUAL records and tracks all cost

movements through the manufacturing process, from inventory through to cost of goods sold.

There are two types of FIFO layers held within the system. First, raw material inventory contains

layers via purchases from a supplier or they can be created when an issue return is created from

work-in-process back to inventory (in the case of an over issue). Second, work-in-process can also

contain FIFO layers where multiple inventory issues for the same part on a work order is contained in

work-in-process.

Included below are examples to depict transaction flows in an actual cost database. In a standard

cost database all inventory transactions are performed at the standard rate and therefore their

computed issue costs carry the same value as the FIFO inventory layers.

FIFO Layers from Purchases

Every receipt of raw material inventory or finished goods inventory (a distinction is not made) is

assigned a per unit price value. Raw material inventory FIFO layers are created when a purchase is

received into inventory. The cost of the purchased inventory is derived by the number of units

received times the per unit cost as identified on the purchase order. This value also represents the

purchase order accrual value. Tracking currency values are assigned based on the receipt date or

system date as designated in Accounting Entity Maintenance. Each purchase creates a unique layer

of inventory, which is displayed by the inventory valuation report.

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FIFO Layers from Issue Returns

Issue returns (parts issued to a work order returned to inventory) also create a FIFO layer. When

parts are issued to a work order their costs are added to work-in-process based on the raw material

FIFO layer they originated from. If the issue to WIP is derived from more than one layer then the costs

of all the layers issued to fulfill the requirement are combined together to create a single WIP issue

layer. Any subsequent issue of the same part to a work order creates an additional WIP issue layer. If

a part on the work order is returned to inventory from work-in-process, a new cost layer is created

with the layers value being derived from the WIP issue layers currently residing on the work order. If

there is only one issue of a particular part for the work order the cost is straightforward. It being, the

average unit cost (by combining original FIFO layers) times the number of units returned to inventory.

When there is more than one raw material inventory “issue” to a work order the costs are returned

from the WIP issue layers in FIFO order.

FIFO Layers from Receipts and/or Adjust-In

A receipt of inventory (finished goods) from a work order can also cause FIFO layers in inventory to

occur. The cost of the inventory layer is derived from the average unit cost on the work order times

the number of units. If the receipt closes the work order (complete receipts) the entire cost of the work

order at the time of the receipt is the value of the FIFO layer.

Adjustments into inventory create a separate cost layer in inventory for the per unit cost assigned

during inventory transaction entry. If no cost is assigned at that time, the cost is derived by the unit

cost as set on the part master file when you run costing utilities.

Multi-Currency System Cost Flow

Inventory Transactions

There are eight classes of inventory transactions. Each of these transactions either move goods in or

out of inventory or transfers between inventory locations, therefore making 16 possible transaction

types. Most transactions affecting inventory, with the exception of transfers, either adds or removes

costs from inventory. All movements applied are based on historical currency levels.

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Basic Transaction Types

P/O Receipts

P/O Receipts are purchased items received into stock. When you receive P/Os you assign them to an

inventory warehouse location. The number of units purchased as well as the cost of the purchased

part(s) become a new cost layer of raw materials inventory. When the PO Receipt is received into

inventory, the entry is booked to a purchase accrual, as a credit with the offsetting debit to Inventory.

You can assign purchase inventory parts directly to a work order. When you receive these parts you

book to raw materials inventory and immediately issue to the corresponding work order. The

inventory transaction entry report depicts this process. Purchased parts that are purchased on behalf

of an existing work order are given the same treatment as inventory issues when received into the

warehouse. The only time these costs become a FIFO layer is if they are received into inventory

through an inventory issue return.

Accrual amounts on Purchase Order Receipt transactions are set in all currencies defined as tracking

based on the exchange rate in effect and results from the exchange rate date setting defined in

Accounting Entity Maintenance.

Services

In the same manner as purchased parts, service transactions entered as a work order can be

purchased directly from the Manufacturing Window using the Costing Utilities function.

In purchasing, the Service Receipts Accrual account is debited with a credit to the PO Accrual

account. In the WIP Journal, the WIP Service account is debited and the Service Receipts Accrual

account is credited.

Inventory Issue / Issue Returns

Inventory issues are transactions that assign raw material inventory to a specific work order.

Inventory issues normally cause the reduction of one or more inventory layer(s). These costs become

the basis of the material costs assigned to WIP. Inventory issue transactions are prepared by costing

utilities to debit WIP and credit Inventory.

Issue returns are inventory parts sent back to the warehouse. Issue returns would most likely result

from over issues or raw materials to a work order. The costing utility feature accounts for these costs

with a credit to raw materials inventory and a debit to WIP. All movements applied are based on

historical currency levels.

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Accounts Payable

You can directly assign costs through accounts payable for items that did not go through the normal

purchasing process. Link these costs to the work order in the Invoice Entry window. You are required

to enter the GL code to cost the items. The GL Account assigned to an account payable invoice linked

directly to a work order is treated as a clearing account. Costing utilities posts an offset entry to the

GL account and applies the transaction value to WIP.

Currency overrides are based on the receipt exchange rate date as set in Accounting Entity

Maintenance.

Warehouse Transfers

The cost implication, such as the treatment of warehouse transfers, are dependent on the setting

applied for the FIFO method in Accounting Entity Maintenance. If the FIFO method option is set to

track “by part transfers” from one location to another it does not have any cost implications. Inventory

transaction entry records the movement (without cost implication) to the new location. If the FIFO

method to track “by part location” is set VISUAL records cost movements between locations. All

movements applied are based on historical currency levels.

Inventory Adjustments In / Out

Inventory adjustments usually originate from physical inventory counts. Typically, companies take

physical counts to keep perpetual records in line with actual inventory on hand. Discrepancies

between the actual inventory on hand and the perpetual records requires an adjustment, either in or

out. If an adjustment-in is required VISUAL costs this adjustment as a new cost layer. Adjustments-

out removes costs from an existing cost layer or potentially removes an entire cost layer from

Inventory. When entering adjustments through Inventory Transaction Entry, you are required to

assign a G/L Account for the other side of the transaction. VISUAL knows raw materials inventory will

be either debited or credited (depending on the adjustment type). You need to define the GL offset

account to apply to the other side of the transaction. All movements applied are based on historical

currency levels.

Direct Labor / Burden

Labor charges are applied directly to the labor ticket during Labor Ticket Entry either through bar

coding or by entering via a computer terminal. All costs for setup and run times are recorded in WIP

when you run Costing Utilities. VISUAL records the entry to direct labor in WIP as a debit to Work-in-

Process Labor and a credit to Direct Payroll Manufacturing.

Burden (overhead) represents costs associated with the cost of manufacturing without the capability

of identifying the costs to specific operations or jobs in WIP at any one point in time. For example,

rent, utilities, general plant maintenance, and depreciation are costs that every manufacturing

environment incurs but are not attributable to specific jobs in WIP.

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Costing provides the ability to set burden rates to capture these costs and allocate them to jobs that

flow through WIP. You can also apply burden to raw materials inventory as well as to specific

operations used in the manufacturing process. Burden rates applied to raw materials inventory on the

part master file will cause burden to be charged each time that the part is issued to a work order.

Burden costs assigned operations are applied to WIP at the time of Labor Ticket Entry.

The settings assigned on the resource in Shop Resource Maintenance are the burden costs applied

during Labor Ticket Entry. The burden rate is derived either from the operation set in Shop Resource

Maintenance or from the operation on the bill of materials. The determination of whether costs are

extended from the resource or the work order depends on the Burden Basis setting as defined in

Accounting Entity Maintenance. If the option is set to determine by resource burden, then VISUAL

looks to the settings as defined in the Resource ID of Resource Maintenance to determine the proper

amount of burden to apply. If the option is set to determine by operation burden, then the amounts

applied on the work order are used to determine the amount of burden.

Indirect Labor

Indirect labor is applied in the same manner as direct labor. The only difference is the transaction type

is set to Indirect as opposed to setup or run through the Labor Ticket Entry window. Indirect labor is

not charged to specific jobs. Costs associated with indirect labor are reclassed from manufacturing

payroll to the appropriate manufacturing indirect Labor G/L Accounts.

Shipments (Sales)

When you ship customer orders, work-in-process inventory costs flow through to Cost of Sales in the

general ledger in two distinct offsetting entries. The first entry reclassifies work-in-process costs to

finished goods inventory. The second entry records the transfer of finished goods inventory to Cost of

Sales to properly match costs with revenue as required by generally accepted accounting principles.

The exchange rate is based on the shipping date, or the date of invoice generation as defined in

Accounting Entity Maintenance.

Tracking Currency Conversion Utility

Infor Global Solutions, Inc. has a built-in Tracking Currency Conversion Utility routine that is designed

specifically to take the historical information based on the proper exchange rates in existence at the

time of the transaction and then to convert it to create transaction detail and summary balance

information. You can also assign appropriate individuals with the power to purge the tracking currency

records at your request.

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Adjusting Inventory Transactions

In order to set the proper value, all inventory transactions must be adjusted by a conversion

(exchange) rate. This value equates to the inventory balance. You can enter inventory adjustment

transactions to:

• Adjust by zero quantity.

• Set values (except system) by currency. This option is secured by SYSADM. Set the value once

and let the system take over from there properly maintaining the values.

VISUAL records the adjustment as a normal inventory transaction.

Adjusting General Journal Entries

General Journal Entries is accomplished by adjusting the inventory valuation with the inventory

balance reports and reconciling your work-in-process accounts to properly reflect the balance by

tracking currencies on the General Ledger.

If you need to manipulate currency values, you can post a zero value to general journal transactions

and posts like any other journal entry.

Be CAREFUL, as these types of adjustments are very dangerous because they allow for the

manipulation of currency data that would not be supported by an exchange rate. VISUAL has secured

this functionality to component level security (managers, controllers, etc.) because of the

ramifications.

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What are Costing Tools/Audits?

Detail transactions provide the basis from which summary data is formed and occurs for all

transactions and balances. Cost Accounting is a very crucial area for manufacturing concerns.

Companies need to know manufacturing data is reflected in the VISUAL accounting system. There

are times when this data can get out of sequence due to system failures. In order to keep the integrity

of cost data, you can use Costing Tools to correct instances where summary records are not

supported by detail transactions.

Use Costing Tools to visually compare detail transaction records with their corresponding summary

records. You also have the ability to correct them immediately or set them to correct the next time you

run costing utilities. After you run Costing Utilities, VISUAL records any necessary entries or fixes, to

properly reflect the manufacturing accounting data in the financial system.

The Costing Tools option is located on the Admin menu. The program option is secured by read/write

access as well as program component security. To access program security SYSADM access is

required.

Data Inconsistencies

In today’s computing environment, sophisticated applications must include tools available to users

(through the guidance of technical support) to assist in the maintenance and upkeep of database

information. Typically these tools allow for the detection and correction (if appropriate) of data

inconsistencies.

Inconsistencies are defined in the dictionary as follows:

• not in agreement, not in harmony, incompatible,

• not uniform; self contradictory,

• not holding to the same principles or practice

In a business environment this definition can be specifically applied to transactions (transaction

inconsistencies) or it can be applied in a general sense to expected results in the data (data

inconsistencies).

Therefore, when discussing inconsistencies we cover the spectrum of data inconsistencies to

transaction inconsistencies. Data inconsistencies result when transaction values are expected to be

picked up in one period but are actually calculated into another. Transaction inconsistencies occur

where accumulated transaction sub-totals do not support the summation of detail transaction entries.

Typically, transaction inconsistencies occur as a result of a system crash during an update stage.

When a transaction is entered into the system it usually causes another record to be to updated or

added to the system. VISUAL stores “summary” records, dependent on detail transaction records. If a

system crash occurs during a summary record update, database inconsistencies are quite likely to

occur as well. Costing Tools can check for these inconsistencies and make appropriate modifications.

To understand data inconsistencies, and how transactions expected in one period can show up in

another, you must first understand how costing accumulates and processes information. Typically,

Costing Utilities assign transactions to the period in which the transaction date falls, as established in

application global. This, however, is not consistent when transactions dated with a prior month

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transaction date (intended for the prior month) are picked up in the costing run for the current month.

This may occur when the costing utilities feature is executed for the current month without having

been run for the prior month. If a situation occurs where costs are posted to one period when they

were expected to be closed to a different period, costing tools can be used to affect the proper

change in accounting. Technical support can assist in this matter.

Costing Tools/Audit Overview

VISUAL provides several recalculate functions to change transaction data within the database. These

Recalculate options are available:

• Recalculate Distributions

• Recalculate Standard Costs

• Recalculate WIP Balances

• Recalculate Inventory Balances

The analysis reports provide a means to track the manipulated transaction data. These reports are

available:

• Cost of Goods Analysis

• Cost Distribution Analysis

• P/O Accrual Analysis

• Journal Prep Analysis

• FIFO Analysis

Costing Tools

Costing Tools tracks and tallies various types of inventory transactions; either to a work order or to

raw materials inventory (purchase or transfer), applied labor & burden, and/or indirect labor. All costs

are prepared for journal entry through the Costing Utilities function. It is imperative that the links

between the transaction held in the transaction tables, the related distribution tables, and the Work-in-

process Issue & Detail tables always support one another and more importantly tie out.

The necessary checks are performed based on your selections and notes any discrepancy in the

Remarks column. Using the Costing Tools window, you can find your discrepancies, fix them in the

appropriate places, and ensure that your Manufacturing costs are kept in sync with your supporting

General Ledger entries.

• Purchases • Adjustments

• WIP • Indirect Labor

• Finished Goods • WIP Balance

• Shipments •

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Using Costing Tools

To analyze your costs:

From the Admin menu, select the

Costing Tools

option.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site that contains

the costs to check. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Cost to Check

arrow and select the cost to check for inconsistencies from the list.

You can select:

Purchases

– Costing tools check purchase order lines against the appropriate detail and

distribution (posted) transactions. Any discrepancies between the detail and posted transaction

totals are identified by a note in the Remarks field; furthermore, the values in the rows do not

match.

WIP

– Every transaction assigned to a work order enters and flows through the WIP tables.

Costing Tools reconcile the WIP transactions to the records that provide the links to the necessary

transaction tables, work orders and ultimately the GL Posting table.

Finished Goods

– Finished goods result from either work order receipts or shipments of work

orders to customers.

When parts assigned to a work order are received into inventory (Finished Goods), the number of

units and cost of the work order is assigned a FIFO layer in inventory. The costs associated with

the work order are removed from WIP and classified to Inventory. When goods are shipped (if

they are attached to a work order), VISUAL, through the Costing Utilities, first removes the cost

from WIP and books the costs to inventory. Second, VISUAL, through the Costing Utilities,

immediately removes this cost from inventory and books it to Cost of Goods Sold/Manufactured. If

the goods are in inventory (finished goods) VISUAL removes the cost of the FIFO layer(s) to the

Cost of Goods Sold/Manufactured.

Shipments

– Shipment transactions are related to customer orders. The transaction entries

prepared by Costing Utilities and/or posted by Post Manufacturing Journals depend on whether

the transactions are linked customer-to- work order(s) or simply shipments for inventory.

If the shipments are for customer orders linked to one or more work orders, VISUAL closes the

work order and transfers all costs to inventory. Subsequently the costs of the work order (now in

inventory) are transferred to Cost of Goods Sold/Manufactured.

If a shipment is for inventory (customer orders not linked to one or more work orders), Costing

Utilities remove costs from inventory and posts them directly to the Cost of Goods Sold/

Manufactured.

Customer orders also affect costing. As mentioned in the Finished Goods section, the shipment of

customer orders may potentially affect full shipment status, thereby affecting the cost of open

work orders in WIP. Shipments of customer orders or inventory ultimately remove costs from

inventory and reclassify them to Cost of Sales.

Adjustments

– Adjustments relate to inventory corrections resulting from inconsistencies

between the perpetual inventory records and actual quantities held in inventory. Each adjustment

either adds an inventory cost layer (FIFO) to inventory or subsequently removes costs from one

or more layers.

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Indirect Labor

– Indirect labor consists of labor transactions that cannot be directly linked to

specific work orders, yet are an essential component in the overall manufacturing process.

VISUAL assumes that all labor is booked to a general payroll account. As direct and indirect labor

are applied, these costs are removed from the general payroll account and booked to either WIP,

Indirect Labor, or Cost of Sales. These transactions are entered into VISUAL through the labor

ticket entry window; the only difference is that you must set the transaction type on the labor ticket

to Indirect as opposed to Setup or Run.

WIP Balance

– The WIP Balance account supports WIP distribution table records. If any

corrections are required for any of the other transaction types, WIP Balance checks for database

inconsistencies.

Note:

The table columns change depending on which cost you select to check.

In the Selection section, select the range of costs to include.

For Purchases and Shipments, enter the starting and ending Order IDs.

For WIP, Finished Goods, and WIP Balances, enter the starting and ending Base IDs.

For Adjustments and Indirect Labor, enter the starting and ending Trans IDs.

To run this cost analysis for a different posting date than the current one, click the posting Date

calendar button and select the date.

Note:

You cannot run costing analysis for closed or invalid posting dates.

In the

Options

section, select the type of costs to display in the table.

You can select:

Transactions

Detail

Balance

, and

Burden

. As you select or clear check boxes,

columns appear or disappear in the table.

To process only differences between the transaction value and posted value, select the

Exceptions Only

check box in the Options section and enter the filter criteria:

Plus/Minus %

– If the difference between the transaction value and the posted value is greater

than the allowed

Plus/Minus %

and the posting candidate flag is set to N, the transaction appears

as an exception in the table.

For example, if a transaction worth $1.00 has a posted value of $1.11 and the Plus/Minus Percent

is set to 10% the transaction appears in the table because the allowable 10% of $1.00 is less than

the difference of $0.11. If a transaction worth $1.00 has a posted value of $1.09 and the Plus/

Minus Percent is set to 10% the transaction will not appear in the table because the difference

$0.09 is less than the allowed difference of $0.10.

Plus/Minus Amount

– If the difference between the transaction value and the posted value is

greater than the allowed

Plus/Minus Amount

and the posting candidate flag is set to N, the

transaction appears as an exception in the table.

Note:

You can leave either field blank and filter on % or Amount. If you enter values in both fields,

VISUAL filters differences based on it being an OR operator.

Click the

Run

toolbar button.

When processing is finished, the relevant information appears in the table.

To mark a found discrepancy so that VISUAL stops reprocessing the record, click the

Set Posting

Candidate

toolbar button.

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A Y appears in the row header.

To save any changes you have made to posting candidates, click the

Save

toolbar button.

When you have finished analysis your costs, select the

Exit

option on the File menu.

Printing Costing Reports

There are several reports you can print or view from within the Costing Tools window:

Cost of Goods Analysis

– The Cost of Goods Analysis report provides a means to analyze your cost

of goods sold by customer order.

Cost Distribution Analysis

– Use the Cost Distribution Analysis report to show how costs for a given

item were issued at FIFO or how costs were distributed due to links between the Work Order

requirement and the Purchase Order, or the Work Order and Customer Order in the case of a buy /

resell part or manufactured part.

P/O/Accrual Analysis

– Use the P/O Accrual Analysis report to review purchase order receipts

against the amount invoiced against those receipts.

Journal Preparation Analysis

– The Journal Preparation Analysis report examines each purchase

order, work order, sales order, adjustment, and indirect labor ticket and attempts to determine if the

item’s current value, based on its inventory transactions, labor tickets, service receipts, direct

invoices, etc., is equal to the value posted to the general ledger.

Project Summary Analysis (only if you are licensed to use Projects/A&D)

–

FIFO/Average Costing Analysis

– Use this report to analyze FIFO Distributions for transactions

within a specified range.

You can output all costing reports to:

– To send the report to your printer, select the

option.

View

– To view the report using the report viewer, select the

View

option.

File

– To send the report to text file, select the

File

option. VISUAL prepares your report as a CSV file

and a dialog box appears prompting you to enter the location and file name for the file to be saved.

E-mail

– To prepare the report and attach it to an email, select the

E-mail

option. VISUAL prepares

the report as an RTF file and attaches it to a Microsoft Outlook email message. For information on

addressing and sending the email message, refer to your Microsoft Outlook user documentation.

Click the

Send

button when you are ready to send the message.

To attach a PDF (Portable Document Format) file to your email instead of a RTF file, select the

PDF

Format

check box.

Printing Cost of Goods Sold Analysis Reports

The Cost Of Goods Sold Analysis report provides a means to analyze your cost of goods sold by

customer order.

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If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to view in the

report. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Select the

Print Cost of Goods Analysis...

option from the File menu.

Enter the end date of the accounting period.

You can enter any date and VISUAL automatically determines the end date of the period in which

the date you entered falls.

To limit the orders included in the report, enter the starting and ending Order IDs. The IDs you

specify are included in the report, along with any IDs that fall alphabetically between the two IDs

you specify.

Select the type of report to run. You can select:

Analysis Report

– Select the Analysis report to compare cost of quantity received to the cost of

quantity shipped and posted to cost of goods sold. For each customer order, the report lists the

Part ID shipped, the costed and shipped quantity by work order, and their values. The values on

this report are the actuals from the work orders. With actual costing, work order costs can be

affected across several periods, this report shows you a total cost by month for the last four

months.

This report has an option to print for exceptions only, based on parameters you supply. By clicking

on the

Exceptions Only

check box, you can specify a Plus/Minus % deviation and / or a Plus/

Minus Amount deviation. This is a useful tool to help determine if there are any missing

transactions or costing information.

For example, if you received an order to inventory for $1000.00 and the shipment (issue) is

valued at $1000.00; however, the Cost of Goods Sold value is $200.00, this indicates that the

Shipments Journal needs to be run to capture the $800.00 to Cost of Goods Sold.

Margin Report

– Select the Margin report to view the margin earned on that product by customer

order and line item shipped. Information in the report includes ship quantity, revenue, actual cost,

margin, estimated cost and a variance between estimated and actual cost. For each customer

order, this report also shows you a total revenue versus total actual costs and total revenue

versus estimated costs and the respective margins. Use this tool to highlight where costs have

deviated from estimate and which work orders may need to be reviewed.

The option available for this report is to print all orders that affect Cost of Goods Sold for that

period or only those orders shipped during that select period. Orders shipped in a previous period

may affect Cost of Goods Sold in the current period due to changes to the order shipped such as

posting of Accounts Payable Invoices or edits to Labor Tickets.

If you selected the Margin type report, and want only orders you have shipped for the period you

specified, select the

Shipped This Period Only

check box.

To process only differences between the transaction value and posted value, select the

Exceptions Only

check box in the Options section and enter the filter criteria.

To include only the transactions you shipped for the current period, select the

Shipped This

Period

check box.

Click the print option arrow and select the print output option to use.

Click

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Printing Cost Distribution Analysis Reports

Use the Cost Distribution Analysis report to show how costs for a given item were issued at FIFO or

how costs were distributed due to links between the Work Order requirement and the Purchase

Order, or the Work Order and Customer Order in the case of a buy / resell part or manufactured part.

This report shows the Out Transaction ID (issue a shipment) and the associated In Transaction IDs

(Purchase Order receipts or Work Order receipts) from which the issue received its costs. The total

dollar value of the issue should be equal to the total dollar value of all receipts consumed by the

issue. Use this report to determine and/or analyze any cost inconsistencies in a part’s inventory

valuation. The ability to search for a Plus/Minus cost% or a Plus/Minus cost amount can be

performed.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to view in the

report. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Select the

Print Cost Distribution Analysis...

option from the File menu.

In the Starting and Ending Part ID fields, enter the starting and ending Part IDs for the range of

parts to include in this report. To include all of your parts, leave these fields enpty.

In the Transaction Starting and Ending dates field, enter the appropriate dates. for the range of

transactions to include in this report.

To process only differences between the transaction value and posted value, select the

Exceptions Only

check box in the Options section and enter the filter criteria.

Click the print option arrow and select the print output option.

Click

Printing P/O Accrual Analysis Reports

Use the P/O Accrual Analysis report to review purchase order receipts against the amount invoiced

against those receipts. VISUAL automatically accrues purchase orders that have been received by

debiting the account on the purchase order and crediting the purchase accrual account from the

interface table. To create this accrual, VISUAL uses the value from the purchase order. When the

invoice is entered and matched to the receiver, the accrual is effectively moved to the accounts

payable with any difference in amounts booked to the proper accounts.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to view in the

report. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Select the

Print P/O Accrual Analysis...

option from the File menu.

Enter the Received From and Received Thru dates.

Enter the Purchase Order ID.

Select the receiver option to use for this report:

Show All Receivers

– To include All of your receivers, select this option.

Received, Not Invoiced Only

– To include costs you have received but Not invoiced, select this

option.

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Incorrectly Matched Amounts Only

– To process only differences between the transaction value

and posted value, select the

Incorrectly Matched Amounts Only

option. You can also set the

limitations for the mismatched records by entering Plus/Minus % and Amount values.

Click the print option arrow and select the print output option.

Click

Printing Journal Preparation Analysis Reports

The Journal Analysis report examines each purchase order, work order, sales order, adjustment and

indirect labor ticket, and attempts to determine if the item’s current value, based on its inventory

transactions, labor tickets, service receipts, direct invoices, etc., is equal to the value posted to the

general ledger.

You can run this report for a range of orders or transactions for the selected journal type, or for all

orders or transactions for that journal. It can also be run for exceptions only. You can define the

exceptions parameters in the Plus/Minus % and or the Plus/Minus Amounts fields.

This tells VISUAL that any transaction that is not equal should be reevaluated with the next run of the

Costing Utilities Receipt Transaction and Inventory Transaction costing functions.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to view in the

report. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Select the

Print Journal Preparation Analysis...

option from the File menu.

Enter the Starting and Ending IDs for the report.

In the Type section select the type of journal to prepare.

To reevaluate any transactions that are not equal with the next run of the Costing Utilities Receipt

Transaction and Inventory Transaction costing functions, select the

Mark as Posting Candidate

check box.

To process only differences between the transaction value and posted value, select the

Exceptions Only

check box in the Options section and enter the filter criteria.

Click the print option arrow and select the print output option.

Click

Printing FIFO Analysis Reports

Use this report to analyze FIFO Distributions for transactions within a specified range.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to view in the

report. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Select the

Print FIFO Distributions Analysis...

option from the File menu.

Enter the Starting and Ending Part IDs for the report.

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Note:

Because you database may contain many parts and transactions, you may want to filter

your transactions by date.

To filter this report, enter a date in the

Transactions Dated On or After

field.

Click the print option arrow and select the print output option.

Click

Recalculating Balances & Costs

Recalculating Distributions

The Recalculate distribution function corrects transactions that have not been costed correctly. This

function reexamines, for the selected part(s) and date(s), the receipts and related issues of that part.

If any discrepancies in quantity or cost are found, those transactions are flagged as posting

candidates and re-costed with the next run of the Costing Utilities. There is no report that prints with

this function.

To recalculate balances:

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the SIte ID arrow and select the site for which you

are recalculating distributions. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Recalculate Distributions

toolbar button.

To recalculate distributions for a range of Part IDs, select the

Recalculate Distributions for a

Range of Part IDs

option and enter the Starting and Ending Part IDs in the Starting and Ending ID

fields.

To filter the transactions that are processed, click the calendar button and select the Process

Transactions date on which you want the report to start.

Select the recalculation method to use:

Recalculate Distributions

– VISUAL recalculates the cost of out transactions based on existing

transaction links.

Reset P/O Receipts from Matched Invoices

– VISUAL recalculates the cost of in transactions

from related A/P invoices. VISUAL also updates any linked out transactions.

Force FIFO Re-evaluation

– VISUAL breaks existing FIFO links and calculates new FIFO links.

Purchases to and shipments from WIP are not affected.

Click

Start

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Recalculating Standard Costs

The Recalculate Standard Costs function updates the standard costs of selected parts using the

average of receipt costs for a given period.

For example, Part A may have a standard cost of $.50, which you defined in Part Maintenance. If you

have been receiving Part A with costs between $.65 and $.99 for the past three months, you may

want to use the Recalculate Standard Costs function to update the standard cost for Part A.

To recalculate standard costs:

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site for which you

are recalculating distributions. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Recalculate Standard Costs

toolbar button.

A list of your parts appears in the Recalculate Standard Costs dialog box.

Select a part for which you want to recalculate the standard cost. You can select multiple parts

using the SHIFT and CTRL keys.

You can click the

Select All

button to select all of the parts.

To search for a part:

Click

Enter the search criteria and press the ENTER key.

Only the parts matching the criteria you entered appear in the table.

Note:

You can use standard search language. For more information, refer to the “Concepts and

Common Features” chapter.

To filter costs by the date on which you received them, click the appropriate calendar buttons and

enter the Start and End Dates of the receipt period.

VISUAL uses the receipts of the chosen part during this time period to recalculate the part’s

standard cost.

If VISUAL does not encounter any receipts within the specified range and you want to use the

latest receipt of the part for the recalculation, select the

Use the Latest Receipt if No Receipts

Occurred in this Date Range

check box.

To process only differences between the transaction value and posted value, select the

Exceptions Only

check box in the Options section and enter the filter criteria.

Click the

Recalc Selected Parts

button.

A progress dialog appears as VISUAL recalculates the standard costs for the parts you selected.

The new costs appear in the New Unit Cost column and on what VISUAL bases those costs

appears in the New Cost Based On column.

A check mark appear in the row header indicating the changes that will occur to the costs in your

database.

Click

Save

VISUAL saves the recalculated costs to your database.

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Exporting the Recalculate Standard Costs table to Microsoft Excel

You can export the contents of the table in the Recalculate Standard Costs dialog to Microsoft Excel.

Click the

Send to Microsoft Excel

button.

Recalculating Inventory Balances or WIP Balances

It may become necessary to recalculate inventory balances presented by the Inventory Balances

Report for a specific financial period. You can recalculate the inventory balances of any period. It is

available from the File menu of Costing Utility. To recalculate the inventory balance, the period must

be open and the period must be fully costed. The Inventory Balance recalculation does NOT create

posting candidates.

When upgrading it is imperative to run the Recalculate Inventory Balances for the Post MFG Audit

and the Recalculate WIP Balances reports, and you must ensure that they are accurate. These

options must be run for the current open period. The application is not designed to recalculate history

on a period-by-period basis. In the future, you can use these reports on a period basis for month-end

reporting.

To recalculate inventory or WIP balances:

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site for which you

are recalculating balances. If you are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Recalculate WIP Balances

Recalculate Inventory Balances

toolbar button.

Enter the Starting and Ending IDs to use for the range of this recalculation.

Click the Posting Date calendar button and select the posting period for which you want to

recalculate balances.

Click

Start

When VISUAL has finished, the balances dialog box closes.

Document Maintenance

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6 – 1

Chapter 6: Document Maintenance

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is Document Maintenance?................................................................................................... 6–2

Opening the Document Maintenance Window ............................................................................... 6–4

Maintaining Document Folders ....................................................................................................... 6–5

Maintaining Default Reference Types ............................................................................................. 6–6

Adding Documents ......................................................................................................................... 6–9

Copying and Moving Documents.................................................................................................. 6–13

Referencing Documents ............................................................................................................... 6–15

What is Document Maintenance?

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What is Document Maintenance?

Sometimes you may have a single document that you associate with several items. For other

documents, you may want to associate several documents to one item. Use Document Maintenance

to associate your documents with records in VISUAL.

By having a single window in which you can set up all of your documents and using a reference from

the appropriate areas in VISUAL, you can better manage your documentation.

Planning Document Storage

Documents can be stored in centralized directories by reference type, site, entity, tenant, or globally.

Use the Document Folder feature to designate the storage folder for documents at each level. See

“Maintaining Document Folders” on page 6-5.

If you set up specific directories for sites and reference types, we recommend that you use drag-and-

drop to add new documents and use the Document ID browse in the Document Reference dialog to

attach existing documents to records. This prevents you from accidentally overriding the site and

reference type checks that are in place when you: add new documents using drag-and-drop or attach

existing documents using Document ID browse in the Document Reference dialog.

This table describes how to achieve centralized directories for each level:

Document Storage

Level

How to store a document at this storage level

Reference Type

For directories by reference type, specify a directory unique for each site or

tenant reference type such as,

C:\Infor\VISUAL\Docs\SiteABC\ReferenceType1 and

C:\Infor\VISUAL\Docs\SiteABC\ReferenceType2.

Site

For a site-level directory not subdivided by reference type, specify the

same directory for all of the site’s reference types.

Entity

For an entity-level folder structure not subdivided by site, specify the same

directories for all of the entity's child sites. You can still use reference types.

For example, you could create a directory called

C:\Infor\VISUAL\Attachments\EntityA\APInvoices and assign the directory

to the AP Invoice reference type in each of the entity's child sites.

Tenant

For tenant-level folders, specify ** Tenant ** in the Site ID field. You can

specify which sites have access to tenant-level documents on a document-

by-document basis.

Global

For a global document folder, create a folder and then specify it in the

Global Document Path.

What is Document Maintenance?

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6 – 3

Referencing Documents at the Tenant-level and the Site-

level

When you attach documents in maintenance windows, the level of the maintenance window must

match the level of the document. For example, Vendor Maintenance is a tenant-level application,

because you cannot specify a site. If you attach an existing document to a Vendor Maintenance

record, you can only attach tenant-level documents. While you can use Document Maintenance to

create a site-specific vendor document, you cannot use this document in Vendor Maintenance. Site-

specific documents can only be used in site-specific maintenance windows such as WIP

Maintenance.

Similarly, when you create a new document attachment through a maintenance window, the level of

the new document matches the level of the maintenance window. For example, if you create a new

document in Purchase Order Entry, the document is created in the site that you selected in the

purchase order header. If you create a new document in Customer Maintenance, the document is

created at the tenant level.

Many of the document reference-enabled windows allow document creation at the site level. This

table shows the windows where tenant level documents and document references are made:

Windows Tenant-Level

Customer

Maintenance

Tenant

Vendor Maintenance Tenant

Opening the Document Maintenance Window

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Opening the Document Maintenance Window

Select

Admin

Document Maintenance

Setting Up Document Categories

Use Document Categories to specify what type of document you are entering. For example, to

reference Material Specification Documents, you could enter a category named Material Specs.

To set up document categories:

Click the

Document Category

button on the toolbar.

Click

Insert

The next available row appears highlighted and the cursor appears in the ID column

Enter a suitable identification for this category.

Press the TAB key and enter a description for this category.

Click

Save

Click

Maintaining Document Folders

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6 – 5

Maintaining Document Folders

Use document folders to manage where your documents are stored. You can set up document folders

in a variety of ways. See “Planning Document Storage” on page 6-2.

Document file paths can be up to 255 characters long, except for the Global Document path which is

up to 128 characters long.

To maintain document folders:

In the Document Maintenance window, select Maintain, Document Folders.

Specify the Global Document Path by either clicking on the browse folder button, or manually

typing the global document path.

If paths by Site and Reference Type are not specified, the Global Document Path is the default

path for storing documents.

To set up paths for site-level documents, select the site from the Site ID drop-down list. To set up

paths for tenant-level documents, select ** Tenant ** from the Site ID drop-down list. If you are

licensed to use a single-site, this field is unavailable.

Click the Insert Row toolbar button.

Click in the Reference Type column of the new row and select from the Reference Type drop-

down list.

Click in the Path column of the new row and either manually type the reference type’s document

path, or double-click the Path column’s directory browse button and select the path.

Click Save to set the default file path for your selected Site and Reference Type combination.

Maintaining Default Reference Types

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Maintaining Default Reference Types

Use default reference types to define how your documents are stored.

When a user drags-and-drops a new document onto a program’s main window or a Document

Reference dialog, these settings determine the default reference type. For example, if you specify

Customer as the default reference type for Customer Order documents, then new documents that are

drag-and-dropped onto the Customer Order Entry window have a Customer reference type. You can

change the reference for new dragged-and-dropped documents in the Document Reference dialog or

in the New Document dialog. The General reference type is used when no default reference type

exists.

To maintain default reference types:

In the Document Maintenance window, select Maintain, Default Reference Types.

In the Site ID field, specify the site where you are setting up default reference types. Select

Tenant **

to set up default references for tenant-level documents. If you are licensed to use a

single-site, this field is unavailable.

Click the Insert Row toolbar button.

Click in the Document Type column of the new row and select the Document Type from the drop-

down list.

Click in the Default Reference Type column of the new row and select the Default Reference

Type from the drop-down list.

This table lists what Reference types are available based on the selected Document Type:

Document Type Default Reference Type

AP Invoice

• AP Invoice

• General

• Vendor

AR Invoice

• AR Invoice

• Customer

• General

Cash Application

• AR Invoice

• General

Customer

• Customer

• General

Customer Order

• Customer

• Customer Order

• General

Engineering Change Notice

• Engineering Change Notice

• General

Maintaining Default Reference Types

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6 – 7

Estimating

• Customer

• Estimating

• General

General Journal

• General

• General Journal

Operation

• General

• Operation

• Shop Resource

• Work Order

Part

• General

• Part

Project (Only available when you are

licensed for a project database.)

• General

• Project

Purchase Contract

• General

• Purchase Contract

Purchase Order

• General

• Purchase Order

• Vendor

Receiver (Used when adding documents in

Purchase Receipt Entry and Receiving

Inspection)

• General

• Purchase Order

• Receiver

• Vendor

Requisition

• General

• Requisition

• Vendor

RFQ

• General

• RFQ

RMA

• Customer

• General

• RMA

Service

• General

• Service

Document Type Default Reference Type

Maintaining Default Reference Types

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Click Save.

Shipper

• Customer

• General

• Shipper

Shop Resource

• General

• Shop Resource

Trace

• General

• Trace

Vendor

• General

• Vendor

Work Order

• General

• Part

• Work Order

Document Type Default Reference Type

Adding Documents

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

6 – 9

Adding Documents

You can add documents by specifying a file location (for example, c:/Infor ERP VISUAL Enterprise/

Part123Schematic.doc) or a URL address (for example, file://///mycompanyserver/

Part123schematic.doc). Using a URL address can be helpful if you share documents with Microsoft

Sharepoint or other similar document sharing systems.

If you add documents with a URL address, you cannot print the document using the print associated

documents feature found in applications such as Customer Order Entry, Print Work Order Travellers,

Customer Maintenance, Part Maintenance, and Vendor Maintenance. If you would like to be able to

print the documents that you associate with records in these applications, specify a file location

instead of a URL.

The system does not validate the existence of the URL you provide. Make sure you enter the URL

correctly.

For physical file locations, you can specify a default Global Document Path for the file location in

Document Folder Maintenance. You can also specify a file location based on Site ID and Reference

Type.

Adding a Document

To add a document:

In the Document Maintenance window, use the Site ID field to specify where the document can be

used. To use the document in a particular site, select the site from the drop-down list. To use this

document at the tenant level, select ** Tenant ** from the drop-down list. When you add a

document at the tenant level, the document is available to all sites by default. If you are licensed

to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

Click the

Reference Type

arrow and select the type of document from the list. You cannot remove

or add Reference Types from the drop-down list. General is the default reference type.

By selecting an appropriate reference type, you can control the documents that appear in the

various windows and thereby limit the documents from which your users can select. For example,

if you select Part for all of your part documents and your user is referencing a document in the

Part Maintenance window, that user will only be able to select a part document. You can reference

General type documents from within any module.

You can select AP Invoice, AR Invoice, Customer, Customer Order, Email Attachments,

Engineering Change Notice, Estimating, General, General Journal, Operation, Part, Project,

Purchase Contract, Purchase Order, Receiver, RFQ, RMA, Requisition, Service, Shipper, Shop

Resource, Trace, Vendor, Work Order, or Work Flow.

After you select a reference type, the Document Path field is updated. If a path is specified for the

reference type and site in the Document Path Maintenance dialog, then that path is displayed in

the Document Path field. If a path has not been specified for the reference type and site, then the

global document path is displayed. If the global document path has not been specified, then the

directory where you store your VISUAL executables is displayed.

To add the document, perform one of these actions:

Adding Documents

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• Drag-and-drop the document onto the Document Maintenance window. The document is

copied into the directory that is displayed in the Document Path field.

• Click the Document Path field button and navigate to the file. Click Open. The document is

stored in the directory to which you navigated. It is not copied to any default directories that

you have set up.

• Specify a URL in the Document Path field. When you specify a URL with a valid protocol, the

system selects the URL check box. The system recognizes these protocols:

http://

https://

file:// – Use this protocol to reference a file on Microsoft Sharepoint only.

file:///// – Use this protocol to reference a file on a web server.

The system inserts the name of the file in the Document ID field.

In the Description field, specify a description for this document.

Click the

Document Category

drop-down button and select the category from the list.

If this document is under ECN Revision Control, select the

ECN Rev Control

check box, which

also deactivates the Stage and Revision fields. If the document is not under ECN Revision

Control, you can specify a stage and revision level for the document.

To allow the emailing of this document to customers or vendors, select the

Allow Emailing

check

box.

Click

Save

on the toolbar.

After you save the document, you can click the Document Link field to open the document. If you

provided a URL with the http:// or https:// protocol, the system opens the document in a web browser.

If you provided a URL with the file:// or file:///// protocol, the system opens the document in the

application in which it was created. If you provided a physical document location, the system also

opens the document in the application in which it was created.

Setting Allowable Sites for Tenant Documents

When you create a tenant-level document, the document is made available to all sites by default. Use

the Allowable Sites dialog to specify which sites can use a tenant-level document.

To set allowable sites for tenant level documents:

In the Document Maintenance window, select Tenant as the Site ID.

Click the Document ID browse button and select a document from the list.

Select Maintain, Allowable Sites. Your allowable sites are displayed.

To allow the document to be used in a site, select the check box in the Allowable column. To

prevent the document from being used in a site, clear the Allowable check box.

Click Save.

Adding Documents

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6 – 11

Editing Document References

You can edit your document references without having to make the changes everywhere you have

used that reference. For example, if you have widely used a material spec and you change the

location on the document to which the specification refers, make a single change in the Document

Maintenance window instead of changing the reference everywhere you have used it.

To edit document references:

In the Document Maintenance window, select the site where the document is used. Select

Tenant **

to edit a tenant-level reference.

If you select a site in the Site ID field, documents that belong to the site are displayed in the

Documents browse. Tenant-level documents are also displayed if the site is allowed to use them.

Make changes.

You can change the selected site only if there are no references to the document, or if the

document is a tenant document that only references one site and you are selecting that site.

You can change unreferenced documents from site level to tenant level, or tenant level to site

level. If you change a document from site to tenant level the document is added to all allowable

sites.

Click

Save

on the toolbar.

Viewing Where Documents are Used

After you have used Document References in various modules, you can use the Where Used function

to view a list of where you have used a particular document reference.

To view a where used list:

In the Document Maintenance window, select the document reference to view.

From the Info menu, select the

Where Used

option.

Note:

If you have a large list of documents and you want to view a particular reference, click the

Search button and enter the appropriate information.

When you have finished, click

Deleting Document References

Note:

After you have used document references, you cannot delete the reference from the Document

Maintenance window without first removing the reference from records.

To delete document references.

Open the Document Maintenance window.

Click the

Document ID

button and select the reference to delete.

Adding Documents

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Click the

Delete

button on the toolbar.

You are prompted to confirm the deletion of the reference.

Click

Yes

The document reference is removed from your database.

If a reference to the document exists, you are prompted that you cannot delete the reference.

Click

and remove the reference before continuing.

Copying and Moving Documents

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Copying and Moving Documents

Use the Copy/Move Documents window to copy or move documents from one folder to another. You

can keep or delete the original documents.

To copy and move documents:

In the Document Maintenance window, select Maintain, Copy/Move Documents.

Specify the New Path for all Copied Documents by either clicking the browse folder button, or

manually typing the path.

The selected files will be copied to the path specified.

By default, all documents are displayed. To filter the documents in the table, specify information in

these fields:

Site ID - To view documents created for a particular site, select that site from the Site ID list. To

view documents created at the tenant level, select ** Tenant **. To view the documents created

for all sites including the tenant, select **All**.

Reference Type - To view documents with a particular reference type, select that type from the

list. To view the documents created for all reference types, select **All**.

Select these check boxes as is appropriate for each document record:

Copy to New Path

– Select this check box to copy the selected document from the original path

to the new path. To copy all documents to the new path, click the Copy Select All button.

Delete from Original Path - Select this check box to delete the document from the original path

after it has been copied. Clear this check box if you want to retain a copy of the document at its

original path after a copy has been created at the new path. This check box can only be used if

the Copy to New Path check box is selected. To select this check box for all documents that you

are copying to a new path, click the Delete Select All button

Click Save. For the documents that you copied, the Original Path column is updated with the file

path that you specified in the New Path for all Copied Documents field.

Printing Document Listings

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Printing Document Listings

The Document Listing Report lists documents on a site and reference type basis.

To print a list of your documents:

From the Document Maintenance window, click

on the toolbar.

To view documents added to a particular site, select the site from Site ID drop-down list. To view

documents added at the tenant level, select ** Tenant ** from the Site ID drop-down list. To view

all documents, select ** All **.

Note: If you select a site, the report shows only documents specifically added to the site. It does

not show tenant level documents that the are allowed to be used in the site.

Click

Starting Doc ID

and select the document with which to start this report.

Click

Ending Doc ID

and select the document with which to end this report.

To limit this report based on Reference Types, select each reference type to include in the report.

Note:

As you select each reference type, it appears highlighted. To clear a selection, click it a

second time.

In the Sequence section, select the sort order for the report.

You can select

Document ID

Reference Type

Click the

Print To

arrow and select the output for the report.

Select

to send this report to your printer.

Select

View

to view the report on your screen.

Select

File

to copy this report to a comma-delimited file. You are prompted for a file name.

Select

E-mail

to send a copy of this report to an email recipient. If you select to email the report,

an rtf (rich text format) file is created and attached to a Microsoft Outlook email. If you selected

the

PDF Format

check box, a PDF is created and attached to the email

To print a list of only the documents you have used for references, select the

Print Linked

References

check box.

Click

Referencing Documents

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6 – 15

Referencing Documents

You can make as many references to as many documents as you need. Referencing also allows you

to make changes in one place instead of making many of the same changes in different places.

You can create documents or reference existing documents in applications. The application

determines the type of document that you can create or reference. For example, in Customer

Maintenance you can create or reference documents with the type of Customer or General. You

cannot create or reference documents with the type of Part.

This table shows the applications where you can create or reference documents, the document types

that you can create or reference, and whether documents can be attached to the header, line, or both:

Application Document Types Attachment Level

A/P Invoice Entry

A/P Invoice

General

Vendor

Header and Line

A/R Invoice Entry

A/R Invoice

Customer

General

Header and Line

Cash Application

A/R Invoice

Customer

General

Line

Collections Window

A/R Invoice

General

Line

Customer Maintenance

Customer

General

Header

Customer Order Entry

Customer

Customer Order

General

Header and Line

Engineering Change Notices

Entry

Engineering Change Notice

General

Header and Line

Estimating Window

Customer

Estimating

General

Header and Line

General Journal Entry

General

General Journal

Header and Line

Manufacturing Window -

Header card

General

Part

Work Order

Header

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Manufacturing Window -

Operation Card

General

Operation

Service

Shop Resource

Work Order

Header

Manufacturing Window -

Material Requirement Card

General

Part

Work Order

Header

Order Management Window

Customer

Customer Order

General

Header and Line

Outside Service Maintenance

General

Service

Header

Part Maintenance

General

Part

Header

Part Trace Maintenance

General

Trace

Line

Payment Entry

A/P Invoice

General

Vendor

Line

Progress Billing Entry

Customer

Customer Order

General

Header and Line

Project Billing Entry

Customer

Customer Order

General

Header and Line

Project Maintenance

General

Project

Header

Project Window - Header Card

General

Part

Work Order

Header

Application Document Types Attachment Level

Referencing Documents

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6 – 17

Referencing Existing Documents

To reference a document:

Project Window - WBS Task

Card

General

Operation

Service

Shop Resource

Work Order

Header

Project Window - Leg/Detail

General

Part

Work Order

Header

Purchase Order Entry

General

Purchase Order

Vendor

Header and Line

Purchase Receipt Entry

General

Purchase Order

Receiver

Vendor

Header and Line

Purchase Requisition Entry

General

Requisition

Vendor

Header and Line

Receiving Inspection

General

Purchase Order

Receiver

Vendor

Receiver Lines in Inspection

RMA Entry

General

RMA

Header and Lines

Vendor Maintenance

General

Vendor

Header

Vendor RFQ Entry

General

RFQ

Header and Line

WIP Maintenance

A/P Invoice

General

Header

Application Document Types Attachment Level

Referencing Documents

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Open the appropriate program.

For example, if you are adding document references to a part, open the Part Maintenance

window.

Select the item to which you are adding document references.

Using the part example, select the appropriate part in the Part Maintenance window.

Note: If the Site ID is Tenant in the Part Maintenance window, the Document Reference option is

not available.

In some cases, such as the Customer Maintenance window, there may not be a Site ID value, in

which case ** Tenant ** is displayed in the Document Reference dialog. If this is the case, then

the document reference becomes a tenant-level document for multi-site databases, or the one

available Site ID for single-site databases.

Open the Document Reference dialog. You can open the dialog by:

• Clicking the Documents toolbar button to attach a document to the record. If the record has a

table, you can attach a document to an individual line by selecting the line and clicking the

Line Documents toolbar button.

• Selecting Edit, Document Reference to attach a document to the record. If the record has a

table, you can attach a document to an individual line by selecting the line, then selecting

Edit, Line Document Reference.

• For Customer Maintenance, Part Maintenance, Part Trace Maintenance, and Vendor

Maintenance, selecting Maintain, Document Reference.

• For the Manufacturing Window, in the Header Card, click the Doc Ref button. In all other

cards, select Edit, Document Reference.

• For Customer Inquiry or Vendor Inquiry, selecting Info, Document Reference or Info,

Document Line Reference.

Click

Insert

Specify a Document ID by performing one of these actions:

• Clicking the Document ID browse button and select a document from the list.

A list of valid document attachments is displayed. The list is filtered to display documents that

have a valid reference type for the current application. If you are working in a tenant-level

application, the list is filtered to show tenant-level documents. If you are working in a site-level

application, the list is filtered to show site-level documents and tenant-level documents that

the site is allowed to use. Select the All Reference Types check box to display all of the

reference types for your selected site-level or tenant-level.

• Specifying the Document ID directly in the Document ID column. If you specify a Document ID

that is not the correct type of document reference, you are notified that the document cannot

be added due to its type or that it cannot find the Document ID. If you specify a Document ID

that does not exist, then you are prompted to create the document. See “Creating Document

References in Maintenance Windows” on page 6-21.

Click

Save

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6 – 19

Manually Inserting a New Document in the Document

Reference Dialog

Use this procedure to manually create a document reference. To create a reference by dragging-and-

dropping a document onto the Document Reference dialog, see "Using Drag-and-Drop to Associate

Documents" on page 6–20 in this guide. To create a reference by dragging-and-dropping a document

onto a maintenance window, see "Dragging and Dropping Documents onto Maintenance Windows"

on page 6–21 in this guide.

To create a new document reference:

From the Document Reference dialog, click the

Insert

button.

Type a new Document ID in the Document ID field.

Press

Tab

The system asks if you would like to create a new document. Click

Yes

The Document ID that you specified in the Document ID field is displayed.

In the Site ID field, the site where you are adding the document is displayed. If you accessed the

Document Reference dialog from a tenant-level application, then the document is added at the

tenant level. ** Tenant ** is displayed in the Site ID field.

Specify this information:

Description

– Specify a description of the Document ID.

Reference Type

– Click the arrow and select the type of document. This limits the applications

where you can use the document. Select General to make the document available in all

applications that allow document references.

Document Category

– Click the arrow and select the category for the document.

URL

– If the document path is a URL, select the URL button. When you select the URL button,

the system deactivates the Document Path browse button.

Document Path

– If the document is a URL, specify the URL in the Document Path field. If the

document is not a URL, click the browse button and navigate to the path of the document.

Click

Save

. If the document meets one of these criteria, a message is displayed:

• The document does not exist in the designated Document Path. In the message, click Ok and

then specify the correct Document Path.

• The Document ID that you specified does not match the document name. In the message,

click Yes to update the Document ID that you specified with the name of the document that

you are attaching. Click No to specify a different document path.

Optionally, open the new Document ID in Document Maintenance to assign Stage and Revision

information or to select it for ECN Revision control.

Referencing Documents

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Using Drag-and-Drop to Associate Documents

Use this functionality to create a new document or new document reference in the Document

Reference table.

To use drag-and-drop:

Access the Document Reference dialog. See “Referencing Documents” on page 6-15.

Open Windows Explorer or Microsoft Outlook to locate the document you want to add as a

reference.

Select the file to add as a reference, drag the file to the Document Reference table, and release

the mouse button to drop the file on the table.

When you drop a file on the table one of these messages may be displayed:

• Message dialog indicating that links to the files you dragged will be created.To create a copy

of the file in the assigned directory, click Yes. If you do not want to create the document

reference, click No.If you click Yes, the information is added to the table.

Note: The copied document is referenced, and not the original file. Additionally, a copy of a

dragged email or email attachment is stored in the user's local configuration directory or the

Start in directory listed in the client icon properties.

• Message dialog indicating that the document already exists in another site. To make the

document available to other sites, click Yes. The site-level document becomes a tenant-level

document that is located in the original site directory. If you do not want to create the

document reference for other sites, click No.

• Message dialog indicating that the document has an apostrophe in the name and cannot be

copied. Click Ok.

• Message dialog indicating that the document cannot be copied because it is locked by an

active ECN (Engineering Change Notice). Click Ok.

• Message dialog indicating that you must correct the Site ID or the Reference Type. You can

do this by either changing the Site ID to Tenant, or by adding the Site ID to the allowed sites

for the Tenant, or correcting the reference type.

• If the document already exists in the file path specified in the Document File Path column,

specify the action to take:

• Copy and Replace – Replace the existing document with a copy of the document being

dragged and dropped.

• Don’t copy – No document copy will occur and the document path will remain

unchanged. The file currently in the destination folder will be attached.

• Copy, but keep both files – The file currently in the destination folder will be renamed to

<document_name(#)>.

•

Copy, but rename the file and Document ID to

– The file that you are attaching and the

document ID is updated to the name that you specify.

• Do this for all conflicts - Select this check box to apply your selected copy option to all

similar copy issues. This check box is only displayed when multiple documents are begin

dragged and dropped.

Optionally, specify a description and change the reference type. Click Save.

Referencing Documents

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6 – 21

Creating Document References in Maintenance Windows

Dragged-and-dropped documents are stored based on this storage hierarchy. If a directory exists for

tenant, site, or reference type documents, the document is stored there. If no such directory exists

then the document is stored in the global document path as defined in the Document Folder

Maintenance window. If folders do not exist at either of those storage hierarchy levels, then the

documents are stored in the VISUAL executable directory.

You can add a document reference to a maintenance window by:

• Dragging and dropping the document onto one of these maintenance windows: Customer

Maintenance, Part Maintenance, Vendor Maintenance or WIP Maintenance.

• Dragging and dropping the document onto a maintenance window’s Document Reference dialog.

• Specifying a new Document ID in a maintenance window’s Document Reference dialog.

Dragging and Dropping Documents onto Maintenance Windows

You can create document references to maintenance windows using the drag-and-drop method.

The document level, site-level or tenant-level, is determined by the window onto which you are

dragging and dropping the document. The document’s reference type is determined by the settings

specified in the Document Maintenance window’s Default Reference Type Maintenance dialog. The

document’s path is determined by the settings specified in the Document Maintenance window’s

Document Folder Maintenance dialog.

Dragging and dropping a new document is different than adding an existing document as a new

reference for a record. New documents are created based on their default reference type. You can

override the reference type default in the New Document dialog. New documents are assigned to a

site or tenant; the site when it is specified in the maintenance window, or the tenant when the site is

not specified in the maintenance window. Adding an existing document as a new reference for a

record differs from adding a new document. An existing document must have a valid reference type

for the application, which may differ from the default, and it must also be valid for the site or tenant

specified in the maintenance window.

To drag-and-drop documents onto maintenance windows:

Access the maintenance window to which you are creating the referenced document.

Select the item. For example in Part Maintenance select the part.

Locate the document you want referenced in the maintenance window.

Click and hold the mouse button down to select the document, drag the mouse onto the

maintenance window, and then release the mouse button to create a reference to the document.

One of these dialogs is displayed:

• If the document has not yet been created as a reference and does not exist in the file location

defined for the document type, a dialog is displayed that lists the number of documents and

document references that will be created. Click Yes to create the document and reference.

Note: A copy of a dragged email or email attachment is stored in the user's local configuration

directory or the Start in directory listed in the client icon properties.

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• If the document exists in the file location defined for the document type, a dialog is displayed

that lists copy options. Click one of these options, and then click

• Copy and Replace – Replace the existing document with a copy of the document being

dragged and dropped.

• Don’t copy – No document copy will occur and the document path will remain

unchanged. The file currently in the destination folder will be attached.

• Copy, but keep both files – The file currently in the destination folder will be renamed to

<document_name(#)>.

•

Copy, but rename the file and Document ID to

– The file that you are attaching and the

document ID is updated to the name that you specify.

• Do this for all conflicts - Select this check box to apply your selected copy option to all

similar copy issues. This check box is only displayed when multiple documents are begin

dragged and dropped.

If the document is not yet a document reference, the New Document dialog is displayed. Specify

this information:

Description

– Specify a description of the Document ID.

Reference Type

– Click the arrow and select the type of document. This limits the applications

where you can use the document. Select General to make the document available in all

applications that allow document references.

Document Category

– Click the arrow and select the category for the document.

URL

– If the document path is a URL, select the URL button. When you select the URL button,

the system deactivates the Document Path browse button.

Click Save.

Viewing Attached Documents

The Documents button on the toolbar indicates whether documents are attached to the record.

– No documents are attached.

– Documents are attached.

To view an attached document, click the Documents toolbar button and double-click the document to

view it.

You can view documents in any application where you can attach them.

You can view existing document attachments in these applications, but you cannot add new

attachments:

• Customer Inquiry

• Material Planning Window

• Vendor Inquiry

Message Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

7 – 1

Chapter 7: Message Maintenance

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is Message Maintenance?..................................................................................................... 7–2

Setting Events................................................................................................................................. 7–2

Setting Event Detection Preferences.............................................................................................. 7–6

Processing Events .......................................................................................................................... 7–7

What is Message Maintenance?

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What is Message Maintenance?

Use Message Maintenance to create and maintain records of specific events and to notify you when

the event has occurred. Messages can be sent in these ways:

• Pop up messages that appear on your computer screen

• Email to specified people

• Printed notification to your printer

• SQL statements and queries

This feature is helpful to:

• Track certain events over a period of time

• Receive immediate notification when an event has occurred.

Setting Events

An event is a point in time at which a specified action occurs to a database record. Use Message

Maintenance to specify the event to track and to formulate the message sent when the event occurs.

For example, you can receive an alert when the status of a customer order changes. You can set up

and change how the event is processed.

To set up events:

Select

Admin

Message Maintenance

Specify the event information:

– Specify a unique numeric identifier for this event.

Class

– The class is the event that triggers the message. Click the

Class

arrow and select one of

these options:

Status change

– The status value of the record has changed. For example, a customer order

has changed from Firm to Released.

Line item change

– Information on a line item of the document has changed.

Operation change

– Information on an operation of a work order or master has changed.

Requirement change

– Information on a requirement of a work order or master has changed.

Update

– An update of an existing record has occurred.

Insert

– A new record has been created.

Delete

– An existing record has been deleted.

Query

– The event is based on a user-defined query.

Deadline Event

– The event is based on a user-defined query executed on a specific date.

Recurring Event

– The event is based on a user-defined query executed on a specific date

and then once a day from that time onwards.

What is Message Maintenance?

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7 – 3

Action

– Click the

Action

arrow and select the action taken when the event is triggered. Select

one of these actions:

E-mail

– An email is sent to the specified recipients.

Hold

– The event is held for manual processing. You can use process these events in the

Process Events dialog box.

– A message is sent to the printer specified to the printer set up as the recipient.

Popup

– A pop-up message is displayed on the specified recipient’s screen.

Execute

– A query defined in the Message tab is executed.

Status

– Click the

Status

arrow and select the status for the event. Select one of these statuses:

Active

– This event is active. When the event is triggered, the action specified in the Action

field occurs.

Completed

– The event meets the conditions you specify in the Frequency section, but it has

not processed.

Suspend

– The event is temporarily suspended, preventing the event from being triggered.

Canceled

– The event no longer occurs. Use this status as an alternative to deleting the

event. If you select the Canceled status instead of deleting the event, a record of the event is

retained.

Specify Document information:

Type

– Click the

Type

arrow and select the type of record to monitor.

You can select these types:

Base

Lot

, &

Split IDs

– To track changes to a specific record, specify the record ID. For

engineering masters, quote masters, and work orders only, enter a Lot ID and a Split ID in the Lot

ID and Split ID fields. For all other record types, specify the ID in the Base ID field.

In the Frequency section, specify the number of times the event should be processed. Click one

of these options:

Permanent

– Click this option to process the event each time it is triggered.

Repeat xx Times

– Click this option to process the event a specified number of times. Enter a

value in the Times field.

• All • A/R Invoice

• Customer Order • A/P Invoice

• Purchase Order • Quotation

• Work Order • Part

• Engineering Master • Unplanned Maintenance

• Shipment • Engineering Change

• Receipt • Requisition

• Service Dispatch

What is Message Maintenance?

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Do Until xx

– Select this option to process the event each time it is triggered until the specified

date. Specify the date in the Date field.

Do On

– If you selected Deadline Event or Recurring Event in the Class field, the Do On option is

displayed and selected. Specify the date of the deadline or the date the recurring event occurs.

Specify the delivery details for the message. Specify this information:

Sender

– Specify the user who sends the message. The current user’s ID is inserted by default.

Recipient

– Specify the mail recipient who is to receive the message. You can click the Browse

button to the right of the field to select a user from your mail application. To send this email to

multiple addresses, separate each name with a semicolon.

If you selected Print in the Action field, click the Browse button to select the printer where the

message is sent.

Subject

– Specify the subject of the message. This appears on the pop up, eemailmail message,

or printed document. This field is optional.

Click the

Message

tab and enter a descriptive message for the triggered event.

If you are including a database query in the Query tab, use placeholders to specify where the data

from the database should display in the message. For most data, use %1 for the first placeholder,

%2 for the second placeholder, and so on. For binary data, use %L1, %L2, and so on. Typically,

fields that accommodate a large amount of text, such as notations and specifications, are binary

data.

Click the

Query

tab and enter a valid SQL query that you can use as a triggering test.

Click the

Tokens

tab and enter a query that fills in the placeholder tokens that may appear in the

descriptive messages.

You can use these Tokens:

%TRIGGER_DATE

– Date event was triggered.

%TRIGGER_DATETIME

– Date and time the event was triggered.

% TRIGGER_TIME

– Time the event was triggered.

%USER

– User ID that triggered the event.

%ID

– Document ID that triggered the event.

%TYPE

– Document type that triggered the event.

%BASE_ID

– Document base ID that triggered the event.

%LOT_ID

– Document lot ID that triggered the event.

%SPLIT_ID

– Document split ID that triggered the event.

%EVMNT

– Event ID that was triggered.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

What is Message Maintenance?

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

7 – 5

Event Samples

These samples show how to use the Message, Query, and Tokens tabs to write messages that

include information from the database.

Creating a Message with Database Information

This example creates a message with database information when a new customer order has been

created. Specify Insert in the Class field and Customer Order in the Class field. Set up the remainder

of the event trigger as you see fit.

Enter this text in the Message tab:

A new customer order %ID Customer ID %1 PO# %2 Ship Date %3 has been

created. Please have it shipped.

Enter this text in the Query tab:

select customer_id, customer_po_ref, desired_ship_date from

customer_order where ID=%ID

Enter this text in the Tokens tab:

%ID

In the Message tab, the %ID indicates that the %ID token is used in the message. If you use a token

in the message, you must list it in the Token tab.

The %1, %2, and %3 in the message are the placeholders for the three pieces of information you are

extracting from the database with the query in the Query tab.

The results output may look like this:

A new customer order 1234 Customer ID 4567 Ship Date 06/03/2001 has been created. Please

have it shipped.

Creating Deadline Recurring Events

This example creates an event with a deadline.

Specify this information from the Message Maintenance window:

Class:

Deadline event

Action:

Popup

Status:

Active

Type:

Customer order

Base ID:

CO-001

Enter a deadline date in the Do On field.

In the Message Tab enter:

What is Message Maintenance?

7 – 6

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Customer order %ID Desired ship date %1 needs immediate attention as of

%2.

In the Query Tab enter:

select id from customer_order where id=%BASE_ID

and status not in(‘C’,’X’)

and desired_ship_date<=SYSDATE INTO %BASE_ID

In the Tokens Tab enter:

select desired_ship_date,SYSDATETIME from customer_order

where id=%BASE_ID

Click

Save

Create order CO-001 in Customer Order Entry with the Desired ship date set to the deadline date

you entered in the Message Maintenance window.

Enter any part, quantity, vendor, and price.

Save the customer order.

In the Message Maintenance window, click the

Process Events

toolbar button.

In the Process Events dialog box, Click the

Generate Deadline/Recurring Events

button.

The message is generated. If the system date is after the desired ship date, the message is

generated every time you sign in.

Setting Event Detection Preferences

Use the Preferences dialog to specify how events are detected.

Select

Options

Preferences

To specify which tab is displayed when you access Message Maintenance, click the

Default Tab

arrow and select the tab.

Click an event detection option:

Process detected events

– Click this option to process messages when they are triggered.

Place detected events on hold

– Click this option to hold messages when they are triggered.

You can process the messages at a later time.

Disable event processing

– Click this option to diable event processing.

In the Minutes field, specify how often to check for new events.

Select these options:

Combine Messages if More Than

– Select this check box to combine messages. Messages are

not sent until the specified number of messages have been generated.

Eliminate Duplicates Created Within

– Select the check box to remove duplicate messages if

they are created within a specified amount of time. Enter the number of minutes in the field.

What is Message Maintenance?

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

7 – 7

This is helpful if you make several changes to a document and save after each change. If you

select this option, only one message is sent for the changes instead of one message for each

change.

Limit Processing Time Slice to

– The system processes as many events as possible within the

time limits you set in the field. The remaining events remain in the queue until the next time

VISUAL checks for detected events.

Click

Processing Events

All message events are shown in the Process Events dialog box. From this dialog box, you can

delete, print, and mail event messages.

Manually Processing Events

You can manually process events that have not yet been processed.

Click the

Process Events

toolbar button.

Click the

Status

arrow and select the status of the events to show in the dialog box.

Select the event to process.

The message for the event is shown in the text box.

To select all of the events in the table, click the

Select All

button.

Process the event.

To delete the event, click the

Delete

button.

To Print the event, click

To email the event, click

Mail

If you click

Mail

, your mail application dialog box appears. Enter or select the recipient of the

message, then send the message.

To trigger the processing of the event, click

Fixing Query Error Events

If, during the processing of events, you discover that you have errors, you can correct those errors by

correcting the appropriate SQL Statement in the Message maintenance window.

After you have fixed the erroneous SQL Statement, return to the Process Events dialog box to

execute the event with the error that you just corrected.

What is Message Maintenance?

7 – 8

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Click the

Process Events

toolbar button.

The Process Events dialog box appears.

Click the Status arrow and select

Error

from the list.

In the table, select the event that you just corrected.

A dialog box is displayed, asking you if you want to execute the displayed query.

To execute the query with your recent changes, click

Yes

To execute the query with your recent changes, click

Save

The event is reprocessed with your changes.

Click

To see if the message has been processed correctly, open the Process Events dialog box again

and look for the event you corrected in the Completed events table.

Employees and Buyers

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 1

Chapter 8: Employees and Buyers

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is Employee Maintenance? ................................................................................................... 8–2

Starting Employee Maintenance..................................................................................................... 8–3

Defining Shifts................................................................................................................................. 8–5

Editing Employee Information......................................................................................................... 8–9

Deleting Employee Information..................................................................................................... 8–10

Printing Employee Information...................................................................................................... 8–13

Buyer Maintenance....................................................................................................................... 8–14

What is Employee Maintenance?

8 – 2

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What is Employee Maintenance?

Use Employee Maintenance to:

• Create employee records

• Set up earning codes

• Set up indirect codes

• Set up shift definitions

• Assign employees to sites

Employee IDs are used on Labor Tickets. If you use the actual or average costing method, the pay

rate you specify is used to determine labor costs.

Employees are different from users. A user can sign into the database. An employee cannot sign into

the database unless you associate a user ID with the employee.

Starting Employee Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 3

Starting Employee Maintenance

Select

Admin

Employee Maintenance

Defining Codes and Shifts

8 – 4

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Defining Codes and Shifts

Use the options available on the Edit menu to set up earning codes, indirect codes, and shifts. You

use earning codes and shift IDs on the employee record. You use indirect codes in Labor Ticket Entry

when the work performed cannot be charged to a particular work order.

You must create earning codes before you can create an employee record.

Defining Earning Codes

Earning codes classify the work done by your employees. Earning codes are used on labor tickets

and for payroll processing.

To define an earning code:

Select

Edit

Earning Codes

Click

Insert

Specify an ID and a description for the earning code.

Click

Save

Deleting Earning Codes

To delete an Earning Code, highlight the earning code and click

Delete

. Click

Save

Defining Indirect Codes

Indirect labor codes specify the accounts to which labor not associated with a work order is charged.

To define an indirect code:

Select

Edit

Indirect Codes

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Indirect ID

– Enter a unique identifier for this code.

If you are using Barcode Labor Ticket Entry, specify indirect labor codes using UPPERCASE

alphanumeric characters only. Barcode scanning devices cannot read indirect codes than contain

lowercase characters.

Description

– Specify a description of the indirect code.

G/L Account ID

– Click the browse button and select the account to which this indirect labor type

is charged.

Defining Codes and Shifts

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 5

Code

– Specify the type of indirect labor. You can choose:

– Miscellaneous

– Vacation

– Holiday

– Sick

Click

Save

Deleting Indirect Codes

To delete an Indirect ID:

Select the ID to delete.

Click

Delete

Click

Save

The code is deleted.

Copying Indirect Code Information

To copy information from one indirect code to a new line:

Select the information to copy and click

Copy

Click

Insert

Click

Paste

All information except the indirect code is copied to the new line.

Enter the unique identifier for this new earning code in Indirect Code column.

Click

Save

Defining Shifts

Before you can assign employees to shifts, you must first define the Shift IDs. Shift IDs define the

break, lunch, and grace periods for a given shift.

You can break down Shift schedules by activities that occur during the shift. These activities include

allowed clock-in and clock-out grace periods, between-job lag times, and break times.

To define shifts:

Select

Edit

Shift Definition

Defining Codes and Shifts

8 – 6

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

In the Shift ID field, specify a unique identifier for this shift.

In the Description field, specify a description of the shift ID.

In the Allowed Clock In/Out Grace Periods section, specify this information:

Minutes before start of shift

– Specify the grace period before the start of the shift. If employees

clock in during the grace period, their clock in time is adjusted to the start time of the shift.

If the start of the shift is 7:00 AM and the grace period is 5 minutes, employees clocking in

between 6:55 and 7:00 will have a clock in time of 7:00. If they clock in at 6:54 or earlier, the

actual clock in time is used.

Minutes after start of shift

– Specify the grace period after the start of the shift. If employees

clock in during the grace period, their clock in time is adjusted to the start time of the shift.

If the start of the shift is 7:00 AM and the grace period is 5 minutes, employees clocking in

between 7:00 and 7:05 will have a clock in time of 7:00. If they clock in at 7:06 or later, the actual

clock in time is used.

Minutes before end of shift

– Specify the grace period before the end of the shift. If employees

clock out during the grace period, their clock out time is adjusted to the end time of the shift.

If the end of the shift is 4:00 p.m. and the grace period is 5 minutes, employees clocking out

between 3:55 and 4:00 will have a clock out time of 4:00. If they clock out at 4:54 or earlier, then

the actual clock out time is used.

Minutes after end of shift

– Specify the grace period after the end of the shift. If employees clock

out during the grace period, their clock out time is adjusted to the end time of the shift.

If the end of the shift is 4:00 p.m. and the grace period is 5 minutes, employees clocking out

between 4:00 and 4:05 will have a clock out time of 4:00. If they clock out at 4:06 or later, then the

actual clock out time is used.

Between Job Lag Time

– Specify the amount of time allowed between jobs. If employees exceed

the amount of lag time between jobs, the time is charged to an indirect ID.

For example, presume you specify 5 in this field. If an employee clocks out of the first job at 2:00,

then clocks into the next job at 2:04, then no lag time is charged to an indirect ID. The four

minutes are posted to the second job. If the employee clocks in to the next job at 2:06, then six

minutes are charged to an indirect ID.

Minutes Before/After Breaks

– Specify the grace period before and after breaks. If employees

clock in during the grace period before a break, their time is adjusted to the start of the break. If

employees clock out during the grace period after a break, their time is adjusted to the end of the

break.

In the Break/Meal Indirect ID field, specify the indirect labor ID to use when a break or lunch

period is deducted from time posted to the job.

Click

Save

To define the duration of the shift, break times, and meal times, click the

Edit Shift Codes

button.

The ID Of the shift is inserted in the Shift ID field.

Specify this information:

Day

– Click the arrow and select the day of the week for which you are defining the shift times. If

every day has the same shift schedule, select

Every Day

Defining Codes and Shifts

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 7

If each day has a different schedule, you must define the shift for each day. You can also use

Mon

thru Fri

to define the shifts for Monday through Friday, and

Sat, Sun

to define the code for the

weekend.

Description

– Specify a description of the shift schedule.

Shift

– Use the Start and End fields to specify the duration of the shift.

Meal and Breaks fields

– Use the Start and End fields to specify when the break starts and when

the break ends. If employees are paid during the break, select the Paid check box. If employees

are not paid during the break, clear the Paid check box. If employees must manually clock in and

out for the break, select the Manual Clock In/Out check box. If employees are clocked in and out

of breaks automatically, clear the Manual Clock In/Out check box.

Paid breaks Charged to Indirect

– To charge paid breaks to an indirect ID, select the

Paid

Breaks Charged to Indirect

check box. Specify the indirect ID in the Shift Definition dialog box.

Periods Per Hour

– The system inserts 60. You cannot change this value. The system rounds

clock in and clock out times to the nearest minute.

Click

Save

Click

to return to the Shift Definition Dialog box.

Creating Employee Records

8 – 8

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Creating Employee Records

Before you can create an employee record, you must first create Departments and Earning Codes.

Create Departments in Application Global Maintenance. Create Earning Codes in the Earning Codes

dialog box available on the Edit menu.

To create an employee record.

In the header, specify this information:

Employee ID

– Specify a unique identifier for the employee. To make complying with the

European Union GDPR rules easier, we recommend that you do not use personal information,

such as a name, for the ID. See "Individual Privacy" on page 4–1 in the system administrator’s

guide.

First/MI/Last

– Specify the employee’s name in these fields.

Type

– Click an option to specify how an employee is paid. Click either

Hourly

Salary

Pay Rate

– This field is available only if you are licensed to use a single site. If you are licensed to

use multiple sites, define the employee’s pay rate in t.he Sites dialog box. For more information,

refer to “Assigning Employees to Sites” on page 8-11 in this guide.

If you are licensed to use a single site, specify the employee’s pay rate in Pay Rate field. If you

selected Hourly in the Type section, then specify the employee’s hourly rate. If you selected

Salary, then specify the employee’s yearly salary.

The pay rate is not displayed anywhere else in the system. The pay rate is used to calculate labor

costs for labor tickets entered by this employee.

Department

– Click the browse button and select the default department for the employee. You

can override the default department on the labor ticket.

Maintain departments in Application Global Maintenance.

Earning Code

– Click the arrow and select the default Earning Code for the employee. You can

override the earning code on the labor ticket.

Default Shift ID

– Click the browse button and select the default shift for this employee. The

employee can work during a different shift.

Cost Category

– If you are licensed to use Projects/A&D, click the browse button and select the

default labor cost category for this employee. If you are not licensed to use Projects/A&D, this

field is not available.

User ID

– To associate this employee with a User ID, click the arrow and select the user ID. The

employee can sign into the database using the User ID you specify.

Email Address

– Specify the employee’s email address.

In the address section, specify the employee’s address.

If this is a current employee, select the

Active

check box. If this is not an active employee, clear

the Active check box. Inactive employees cannot be selected on labor tickets.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

Creating Employee Records

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 9

Adding a Picture

You can add a picture of the employee to the employee record. Depending on your settings in

Preferences Maintenance, you can display the picture directly on the Employee Maintenance window.

To add a picture:

In the Employee ID field, specify the ID of the employee.

Select

Edit

Picture/Object...

Click

Paste From

Navigate to the file containing the picture, and then click

Open

. The picture is imported.

Click

Save and Close

If you display the picture directly in the Employee Maintenance window, you can click the picture to

open the Picture/Object dialog box. If a picture has not been added to the employee record, then you

must select

Edit

Picture/Object...

to access the Picture/Object dialog.

Displaying the Picture in the Employee Maintenance Window

To display the picture in the Employee Maintenance window, set up the ShowPicture preference

setting.

To set up the preference:

Select

Admin

Preferences Maintenance

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Section

– Specify

EmployeeMaintenance

Entry

– Specify

ShowPicture

Value

– Specify

Click

Save

Editing Employee Information

You can edit employee information using Employee Maintenance.

Click the

Employee ID

browse button and select the employee record to edit.

Make the changes to the employee information.

You can change any field in the Employee Maintenance window except the Employee ID;

changing the Employee ID creates a new employee.

Click the

Save

toolbar button.

Creating Employee Records

8 – 10

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Deleting Employee Information

Click the

Employee ID

arrow and select the employee record to delete from the list that appears.

Click the

Delete

toolbar button.

A dialog box appears prompting you to confirm the deletion.

Click

Yes

to continue, or

to cancel the deletion.

The employee record is removed from your database.

Caution:

Deleting an employee record permanently removes the information from the

database. You cannot recover deleted employee information. You cannot delete an

employee that has associated information.

Assigning Employees to Sites

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 11

Assigning Employees to Sites

This procedure applies to users licensed to use multiple sites only.

Use the Allowable Sites function to assign the employee to sites and to specify the employee’s pay

rate in each site.

Employees can enter labor tickets for any site to which they are assigned. If employees are not Use

assigned to a site, they cannot enter labor tickets for that site.

When employees use Labor Ticket Entry, they can only select work orders associated with the sites

to which they are assigned. They cannot select a work order form a site to which they are not

assigned.

You can also assign employees to sites in Site Maintenance.

To assign an employee to a site:

Click the browse button and select the employee to assign to sites.

Select Edit, Allowable Sites.

Click the Assigned check box next to each site the employee is allowed to use.

Click the

Default

check box next to the employee’s default site. When you specify this employee

in Labor Ticket Entry, the default site is inserted in the Site ID field. You can override this site with

any of the employee’s assigned sites. Specifying a default site is not required.

For each site the employee is assigned to, specify the pay rate. The currency of the site is

inserted in the Currency ID field. If you clicked the Hourly option in the Type section for this

employee, specify the pay rate per hour. If you clicked the Salary option in the Type section for

this employee, specify the pay rate per year.

Click Save.

When you select an employee ID in Labor Ticket Entry, the Site ID drop-down list shows only those

sites assigned to the employee. When you browse for work orders, only the work orders associated

with the Site ID selected in the Site ID field are displayed.

Assigning User Dimensions to Employees

8 – 12

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Assigning User Dimensions to Employees

If you employ User Dimensions, specify the dimensions to associate with the employee.

You can use employee user dimensions in these transactions:

• Work Order - Issue

• Work Order - Labor

• Work Order - Service

• Indirect Labor

To specify user dimensions:

Click the

Employee ID

browse button and select the employee for whom you are assigning

dimensions.

Select

Edit

User Dimensions

In the left pane, each user dimension group is listed. Expand the list under the user dimension

group to view the transactions in which this record is used.

To assign the same dimensions to all transaction types, click the name of the dimension group in

the left pane. All Subledgers is inserted in the Subledger field.

To assign dimensions to a particular transaction type, select the appropriate transaction type. The

transaction type is inserted in the Subledger field.

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Valid From

– Specify the date the dimension assignment becomes effective.

Debit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

debits.

Credit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

credits.

Click

Save

Printing Employee Information

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 13

Printing Employee Information

There are a number of options available for outputting employee information. By using the Print

command, you can output a complete listing of employee information.

Select the

toolbar button.

If necessary, you can change the printer setup from the print dialog box by selecting the

Setup

button.

Click the

Starting Employee ID

button to select the employee with which to begin the report.

Click the

Ending Employee ID

button to select the employee with which to end the report.

Leaving these fields blank to include all employees in the report.

Select how to output the report:

– Select this to view a print preferences dialog box after clicking

View

– Select this to view the report on your screen after clicking

File

– Select this to save the report to a file after clicking

E-mail

– To email the report, select this option. Your report is generated in a Rich Text Format

(.RTF) and attached it to a Microsoft Outlook email message. To attach a PDF of the report, select

the PDF button.

To print barcode for your employees, select the

Print Barcode

check box and select a barcode

type for your report.

Code39 – This barcode type, also known as Code 3 of 9, contains variable length, discrete

symbology. You must have a Code 39 barcode font installed to view the barcode. If you do not

have the Code 39 font installed, then the alphanumeric ID is displayed instead with a prefix and

suffix. This pattern is used: *%ID%*.

QR Code – This is a two-dimensional or matrix barcode. QR stands for quick response.

To include inactive employees in the report, select the

Print Inactive Employees

check box.

Click

If you selected

, a print dialog box appears allowing you to select print ranges and setup your

printer output.

If you selected

View

, VISUAL uses the built-in employee report and the report appears in the

report viewer.

If you selected

File

, the Print To File dialog box appears prompting you to enter the name of the

file to use for the report. Specify the full path and name to use for the output file. A comma

separated value (csv) file is created.

If you selected

E-Mail

, the report is created in rtf format—or PDF if you selected the PDF check

box—and attached it to a Microsoft Outlook email message. For more information on addressing

and sending the email, refer to your Microsoft Outlook user documentation.

Enter the recipient’s name and the message and click

Send

Buyer Maintenance

8 – 14

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Buyer Maintenance

Use the Buyer Maintenance dialog to specify the names of individuals who make purchases. By

default, the database users are inserted into this table. You can insert additional names. If you insert

an additional name in this dialog box, the name is NOT added to your list of database users.

When you enter a transaction that includes a buyer, you can click a browse button to select a buyer

from the list. You can also enter a new buyer directly in the Buyer ID field in a transaction window. If

you specify a new buyer ID in a transaction window, the buyer name is added to the Buyer

Maintenance table.

You can attach user dimensions to buyers.

To add a buyer:

Select

Admin

Buyer Maintenance

Click

Insert

Specify an ID and Name for the buyer.

Click

Save

Deleting a Buyer ID

You can delete a buyer ID only if it is not used in a transaction.

To delete a buyer ID:

Select the row that contains the buyer ID to delete.

Click

Delete

Click

Save

If the ID you selected is used in a transaction, you are informed that the buyer ID cannot be deleted.

Specifying User Dimensions

If you use user dimensions, you can attach dimension codes to buyers. To attach dimension codes:

Select the buyer to whom you are assigning user dimensions.

Click

User Dimensions

In the left pane, each user dimension group is listed. Expand the list under the user dimension

group to view the transactions in which this record is used.

To assign the same dimensions to all transaction types, click the name of the dimension group in

the left pane. All Subledgers is inserted in the Subledger field.

To assign dimensions to a particular transaction type, select the appropriate transaction type. The

transaction type is inserted in the Subledger field.

Buyer Maintenance

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

8 – 15

Click

Insert

Specify this information:

Valid From

– Specify the date the dimension assignment becomes effective.

Debit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

debits.

Credit Dimension

– Double-click the browse button and select the dimension to use for account

credits.

Click

Save

Buyer Maintenance

8 – 16

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Workflow

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

9 – 1

Chapter 9: Workflow

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is Workflow? .......................................................................................................................... 9–2

Starting Workflow............................................................................................................................ 9–4

Understanding Workflow Components ........................................................................................... 9–6

Building Workflow Templates ........................................................................................................ 9–17

Working with Steps ....................................................................................................................... 9–18

Working with Rules ....................................................................................................................... 9–22

Working with Statements .............................................................................................................. 9–26

Selecting Workflow Preferences................................................................................................... 9–32

Logging Workflow Timer Events ................................................................................................... 9–33

Using the Workflow Tracker .......................................................................................................... 9–34

Using the Workflow Gatekeeper ................................................................................................... 9–37

What is Workflow?

9 – 2

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What is Workflow?

Use Workflow to create predefined conditions and rules for guiding users through specific tasks within

applications, such as Purchase Order Entry and Customer Order Entry. Embedded into the logic of

VISUAL, Workflow works behind the scenes. When you activate a workflow, all the areas of VISUAL,

as defined in the workflow, must behave in accordance with the workflow and its set of rules.

Using a workflow-based approach can help you achieve these goals:

• Streamline repeatable processes.

• Define a rule and condition based environment. Because individuals or their knowledge of

processes should not determine process flows.

• Minimize operational errors.

Using the Workflow Designer, you can assign the steps necessary to complete tasks and define the

rules that govern those steps. The Designer saves the workflows you create as templates that

VISUAL uses to create Workflow IDs.

Common workflows contain:

• Process Definition

• A graphical representation of the flow of business information

• System of controls, monitors, and management tools to help automate certain aspects of your

business process.

What can Workflow do for you?

• Provide a graphical representation of your processes.

• Graphically create and display the flow of work and tasks.

• Embed business logic into process—in the form of rules.

• Build rules for exception handling.

• Track the status of process steps.

• Involve third party applications to perform tasks.

• Inform users of new tasks or warn them of late tasks.

• Connect to Task Maintenance functionality.

Preliminary Requirements

Before using Workflow, you should be familiar with VISUAL applications, such as Task Maintenance

and Document Maintenance. You must also know how to add users and create user groups.

Refer to these sections:

• For information on using Task Maintenance, refer to the “Engineering Change Notices” chapter.

• For information on adding documents in Document Maintenance, refer to the “Document

Maintenance” chapter.

• For information on setting up groups for tasks and authorizations, refer to the Infor VISUAL

System Administrator’s Guide.

What is Workflow?

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

9 – 3

• For information on adding new users, refer to the Infor VISUAL System Administrator’s Guide.

Workflow and Double-byte Characters

Workflow does not support the use of double-byte characters. This includes all aspects of the

workflow itself, such as rules and properties, and the VISUAL records on which the workflow is run.

For example, if you set up a workflow to run on parts in Part Maintenance, then all Part IDs must use

single-byte characters. Otherwise, the workflow will not be triggered.

Starting Workflow

9 – 4

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Starting Workflow

To start the Workflow Designer:

Select Admin,

Workflow Designer

The Workflow Designer window opens with the Open Existing Workflow dialog.

Do one of these:

• To open an existing Workflow template, refer to the “Opening and Existing Workflow

Template” section.

• To create a new Workflow template, refer to the “Creating a New Workflow Template” section.

Creating a New Workflow Template

Use workflow templates to specify the application where you will use the workflow.

To create a new Workflow template:

In the Open Existing Workflow dialog, click the

New

button.

In the Type list, select one of these types:

Master

– This feature is not available at this time.

Predefined

– Starts with an empty template.

User Defined

– This feature is not available at this time.

In the Application Area list, select the application area (for example, A/P Invoice Entry or Cash

Book) where you are creating a workflow.

In the Template Name field, type the name for this template.

In the Usage list, select one of these:

All Documents

– VISUAL applies this template each time you create a workflow.

Single Document

– VISUAL uses this template for a specific document. For example, you can

create a custom template for a specific purchase order or quote.

Do one of these actions:

• If you selected

All Documents

in the Usage list, go to the next step.

• If you selected

Single Document

in the Usage list, type the exact document ID (for example,

specify a specific order ID if you are creating a workflow for a particular purchase order) then

click

Note:

The Associated DB Table field is “view only” and lists the database tables associated with

the application that you selected in the Application Area list.

In the Status list, select one of these options:

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Active

– The template is active within the VISUAL logic. When a template is active, the

application you selected in the Application Area list (for example, A/P Invoice Entry or Cash Book)

behaves in accordance with the workflow and its set of rules.

Inactive

– The template is not active within the logic.

Click

To build a workflow, refer to the “Building Workflow Templates” section later in this chapter.

Opening an Existing Workflow Template

To open an existing Workflow template:

In the Open Existing Workflow dialog, click the Application Area arrow and select the application

area.

Click the

Template Name

button and select the template to open.

Click

The Work Area appears with the selected template.

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Understanding Workflow Components

There are four components of the Workflow Designer window:

• The

Menu Bar

contains a comprehensive navigation system giving you access to Workflow

Designer functionality.

• The

Main Toolbar

provides you shortcuts to several of the most common functions of Workflow.

• The

Vertical Toolbar

gives you the tools you need to build your workflows.

• The

Work Area

is where you will build, manipulate, and view your workflows. You may want to

think of the work area as a canvas or pasteboard.

Note:

All the Workflow components described in this section are available in Workflow Designer.

Workflow Tracker has limited functionality.

Menu Bar

The menu bar options are alternatives to the Workflow toolbars, and includes features that are not

included on the toolbars. The menu bar includes these menus:

File Menu

The File menu contains commands for manipulating files within Workflow. You can select these menu

options:

Save

– Saves the current workflow to your database. You can also click the

Save File

button on the

toolbar or press CTRL+S.

Save As

– Allows you to save the current workflow with a new name or in a different location.

New...

– Opens a new workflow. You can also click the

New File

button on the toolbar or press

CTRL+N.

Delete

– Deletes the current workflow. You can also right-click in the work area and select

Delete

Workflow

from the menu.

Refresh

– Updates the information in the current workflow.

Open...

– Opens a previously saved workflow. You can also click the

Open File

button on the toolbar

or press CTRL+O.

– Closes the current workflow.

Import

– Allows you to import workflows from other VISUAL users.

Export

– Allows you to export the workflow to other VISUAL users.

Print Diagram

– Prints the current workflow to a selected printer. You can also click the

button

on the toolbar or press CTRL+P.

Print Details

– Opens the Print Workflow dialog where you can print, email, or view workflow reports.

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Print Setup

– Allows you to set up default print options for printing a workflow file.

Print Preview

– Allows you to view the workflow before printing.

Exit

– Closes the current workflow.

Sales

– Allows you to open the Sales modules.

Inventory

– Allows you to access modules in the Inventory application.

Purchasing

– Allows you to access modules in the Purchasing application.

Scheduling

– Allows you to access modules in the Scheduling application.

Eng/Mfg

– Allows you to access modules in the Engineering/Manufacturing application.

EqMnt

– Allows you to access modules in the Equipment Maintenance application.

Edit Menu

The Edit menu contains commands for editing files in Workflow.

Undo

– Allows you to reverse previous actions. You can also click the

Undo

button on the toolbar or

press CTRL+Z.

Redo

– Allows you to reverse previous actions. You can also click the

Redo

button on the toolbar or

press CTRL+Y.

Cut

– Deletes the selected object from the work area and moves it to the Clipboard. You can also

click the

Cut

button on the toolbar or press CTRL+X.

Copy

– Copies the selected object to the Clipboard. You can also click the

Copy

button on the

toolbar or press CTRL+C.

Paste

– Pastes an object from the Clipboard to the work area. You can also click the

Paste

button on

the toolbar or press CTRL+V.

Clear

– Deletes the selected object from the work area. You can also press the

DELETE

key.

Select All

– Selects all objects in the work area. You can also press CTRL+A.

Change Shape Color

– Opens the color palette where you can select basic colors or create custom

colors for shapes in the work area.

Edit Label

– Opens the Shape Label editor where you can change the name of the selected object.

Edit Properties...

– Opens the selected object’s properties dialog.

Workflow Properties

– Opens the Workflow Properties dialog where you can edit the properties of

the current workflow. For more information, refer to the “Using the Workflow Properties dialog” section

later in this chapter.

View Menu

The View menu allows you to hide or show the Personal Toolbar, and cycle through open workflows.

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Personal Toolbar

– Hides or shows the personal toolbar. A check mark indicates that the personal

toolbar will appear in the Workflow window.

To hide the personal toolbar, remove the check mark by selecting

Personal Toolbar

on the View

menu.

Back

– Allows you to cycle through open workflows similar to a Web browser. You can also press

Back

button or press CTRL+B.

Forward

– Allows you to cycle through open workflows similar to a Web browser. Displays the

workflow you were using before you selected Back. You can also click the

Forward

button or press

CTRL+F.

Help Menu

The Help menu contains commands for accessing the Workflow help system.

Using the Main Toolbar

The Main toolbar contains shortcuts to the most commonly used functions of Workflow.

– Use the

New File

button to open the Create New Workflow dialog.

– Use the

Open File

button to open the Open Existing Workflow dialog.

– Use the

Save File

button to save the current workflow to your database.

- Use the Gatekeeper button to open the Gatekeeper window displaying the rules where VISUAL

encounters processes awaiting action.

– Use the

button to print a copy of the current workflow to your printer.

– Use the

Copy

button to copy the selected object to the Clipboard.

– Use the

Cut

button to delete the selected object from the work space.

– Use the

Paste

button to paste an object from the Clipboard to the work area.

– Use the

Undo

and

Redo

buttons to cycle through your changes.

– Use the

Back

and

Forward

buttons to cycle through the open workflows.

– Use the

Align Left

button to align selected objects on the left.

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– Use the

Align Right

button to align selected objects on the right.

– Use the

Align Top

button to align selected objects on the top.

– Use the

Align Bottom

button to align selected objects on the bottom.

– Use the

Align Vertically

button to align selected objects on the vertical center axis.

– Use the

Align Horizontal

button to align selected objects on the horizontal center axis.

– Use the

Copy Size

button to resize selected objects to the size of the object you selected first.

– Use the

Sticky Palette

button to paste multiple copies of a selected object onto the work area.

– Use the

Font Size

list box to select the font size of text in the work area.

– Use the

View Size

drop-down box to change the magnification of the workflow in the

Workflow window.

Using the Vertical Toolbar

The vertical toolbar allows you to add traditional logic diagram objects to the work area. Each object

contains assignable properties that define the rules and conditions of the workflow.

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Using the Status Area

At the bottom of the work area, you can view details of the currently open workflow template (in

Workflow Designer) or workflow document (in Workflow Tracker). The status area displays workflow

template information in this format: Type:Application Area:Template Name:Document ID. This is the

same information displayed in the Workflow Properties dialog.

Using the Work Area

The work area provides standard graphics tools for creating workflow diagrams that define the flow of

work and tasks that must be completed. Each object within the workflow contains assignable

properties used to define the rules and conditions of the workflow.

Adding Objects to the Work Area

The vertical toolbar contains objects that represent steps or tasks in a workflow. To add properties to

the step, you need to edit the properties dialog as explained in the “Building Workflow Templates”

section later in this chapter.

To add an object to the work area:

On the vertical toolbar, select the object to add to the work area.

Click anywhere in the work area to add the selected object.

Deleting Objects from the Work Area

To delete objects from the work area::

• Right-click the object to delete; then select

Delete

from the menu.

• Select the objects to delete; then click the

Cut

button on the main toolbar.

• Select the objects to delete; then click

Clear

on the Edit menu.

• Select the objects to delete; then press the

Delete

key.

Rotating Objects in the Work Area

To rotate objects in the work area:

Select an item in the work area.

Do one of these actions:

• Right-click the object to rotate; then select

Rotate clockwise 90degs

from the menu.

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• Right-click the object to rotate; then select

Rotate counterclockwise 90degs

from the menu.

Moving Objects in the Work Area

To move objects in the work area:

On the vertical toolbar, select the cursor icon.

Drag the workflow step to a new location in the work area.

Selecting Multiple Objects in the Work Area

To select multiple objects in the work area:

On the vertical toolbar, select the cursor icon.

Do one of these actions:

• Press the CTRL key and click the objects to select them.

• Drag the cursor to create a rectangle around the objects. The rectangle must enclose all

objects completely to select them.

• On the Edit menu, click

Select All

to delete all objects in the work area.

Resizing Objects in the Work Area

To resize objects in the work area:

Select an item in the work area.

Do one or more of these actions:

• To resize an item, click and drag one of the corners or edge handles.

• To resize an item while keeping the current proportions, click and drag a corner handle.

Aligning Objects in the Work Area

To align objects in the work area:

On the vertical toolbar, select the cursor icon.

Select the first object. All other objects you select will align to this object.

Press the CTRL key and select each additional object to align.

On the Main toolbar, click one of the object alignment buttons:

Align Left, Align Right, Align Top, Align Bottom, Align Vertically, Align Horizontal.

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Making Multiple Objects the Same Size

To make multiple objects the same size:

On the vertical toolbar, select the cursor icon.

Select the first object. The first object controls how all the other selections will be resized.

Press the CTRL key and select the objects to resize.

On the main toolbar, click the

Copy Size

button.

Changing the Text Font Size

To change the text font size:

On the vertical toolbar, select the cursor icon.

Select the object or rule line for which you want to change the label font size.

On the main toolbar, a font size from the Font Size list box.

Changing the View Setting

If you are working with a large workflow that does not fit in the Workflow window, use the View Size

list box to change the view setting.

Adding Rule Lines to the Work Area

In a workflow, the graphical representation of a rule is a line connecting two steps. To add properties

to the rule, edit the properties dialog as explained in the “Building Workflow Templates” section later

in this chapter.

To add a rule line to the work area:

Right-click a step to select it.

While holding down the right mouse button, drag the cursor onto a second step.

A dotted line is displayed that indicates that Workflow is ready to create the rule.

Release the mouse button to create the rule.

A solid line is displayed.

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Adding Control Points to Rule Lines

To add control points to rule lines:

Right-click the rule line to which you are adding a control point; then select

Add Control Point

from the menu.

A control point appears on the rule line.

To reshape the rule line, drag the control point to a new position in the work area.

Converting Lines to Curves

To convert rule lines to curves:

Right-click the rule line to which you are adding a curve; then select

Add Control Point

from the

menu.

A control point appears on the rule line.

Right-click the rule line again; then select

Curve

from the menu.

The rule line appears as a curve.

To reshape the rule curve, drag the control point to a new position in the work area.

Note:

You can add more control points to reshape the curve.

Deleting Control Points

To delete a control point:

Right-click the rule line to delete; then select

Delete Control Point

from the menu.

Workflow deletes the control point from the rule line. If the rule line has more than one control

point, VISUAL deletes the control you most recently added.

To reshape the rule line, drag the control point to a new position in the work area.

Using the Dotted Box

The dotted box is an organizational tool that lets you define and label sections of the work area. You

cannot add properties to a dotted box.

To use the dotted box:

On the vertical toolbar, select the dashed box icon.

Click anywhere in the work area to add the selected item.

Move and resize the box to best suit your needs.

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To add a label, right click the box.

In the Enter new label field, specify a name for the box.

Click

to save the label or click

Cancel

to return to the work area without adding a label.

Printing the Work Area

To print the work area, do one of these actions:

• On the main toolbar, click the

button.

• On the File menu, click

Print Diagram

Using the Print Details Menu

To use the Print Details menu:

On the File menu, select

Print Details

In the Print Workflow dialog, specify this information:

Application Area

– Select the application for which you want to print a workflow.

Template Name

– Select the workflow template to print.

Ref ID

– Select the reference ID of the workflow to print. To print a range of workflows, add a

beginning reference ID and an ending reference ID.

Click the

Print Setup

button to open the Printer dialog where you select a printer and set up

printer properties.

In the list box at the bottom of the Print Workflow dialog, select one of these options:

– Prints the workflow to the selected printer.

View

– Displays the workflow.

File

– Save the workflow to a file.

E-Mail

– Send the workflow using your electronic mail program.

Click

or click

Cancel

to close the Print Workflow dialog without printing a workflow.

Exporting Workflows

Use the Export menu to save the currently open workflow (including all step and rule properties) to a

file on your computer. The exported file will have a .dia file extension.

To export a workflow:

If necessary, open Workflow.

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On the File menu, select

Export

In the Export File window, select a location to save the file, type a file name; then click the Save

button.

Importing Workflows

Use the Import menu to open a workflow file that has been previously exported.

To import a workflow:

If necessary, open Workflow.

On the File menu, select

Import

In the Warning message, do one of these actions:

• Click

Yes

to save the open workflow document before importing a new document.

• Click

to import a workflow document without saving the open document.

• Click

Cancel

to return to the open workflow document without importing a document.

In the Create New Workflow dialog, specify this information:

Type

– Select

Predefined

Application Area

– Select the application area of the workflow to import. The application area

you select must be the same as the application area of the file you are importing.

Template Name

– Type the name to use for this template.

Usage

– Select

All Documents

to apply this template each time you create a workflow or

Single

Document

to use this template for a specific document.

Document ID

– If you selected

All Documents

in the Usage list, go to the next step. If you

selected

Single Document

in the Usage list, type the exact document ID then click the

button.

Note:

The Associated DB Table field is “view only” and lists the database associated with the

application that you selected in the Application Area field.

Status

– Select

Active

to make the template available or

Inactive

to not make the template

available at this time.

Click

In the Select an Import File window, select the file to import; then click the

Open

button.

The imported workflow appears in the work area.

Using Right-click Menus

Right-click menus allow you to open properties dialogs, delete items, and manage objects in the work

area.

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To use right-click menus:

Right-click the work area, rule, or step.

A menu appears.

Select an item from the menu.

For example, to access the properties of an object in the work area, right-click the object and

select

Properties

. The Properties dialog appears.

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Building Workflow Templates

A workflow template is basically a diagram that organizes a business process into actions and paths,

with Steps representing actions and Rules representing paths. For each step and rule you define

properties, including statements and conditions. The properties of the action determine the tasks to

be completed. The properties of the path define the path of the flow.

After you create and save a template, you can change the status from inactive to active. When a

template is active, VISUAL starts a workflow each time a document (for example, a purchase order or

work order) is saved and meets the conditions specified in the template.

To build a workflow template, refer to these sections:

• Working with Steps

• Working with Rules

• Working with Statements

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Working with Steps

When working with step properties, you may want to take some time to investigate and think about

what you want to achieve with the step. Some of the things you may want to consider are:

• What are you attempting to do with this step?

• What conditions do you want met?

• Are there any errors on which you want to halt the process? Do you want to notify the user on

these errors but allow a continuation of the process?

• Are there any documents you want attached to this step of the process?

• Are there any people you want to notify at this step?

• Are there any programs or commands you want to run when the user reaches this step?

Because what happens on one step or rule can effect other steps, you may also want to consider

what happens on prior and subsequent rules and steps.

Adding Properties to a Step

To add properties to a step:

Right-click the step to which you are adding properties.

Select

Properties

Note:

This read-only information appears in the dialog status section: Status, Started on, Last

notified, and Completed. For more information on status fields, refer to the “Viewing Status

Information” section later in this chapter.

In the Label field, specify a name for the step. You may want to consider using a name indicative

of what you are attempting to accomplish on this step.

To re-evaluate the workflow each time a document (for example, a Purchase Order or Purchase

Requisition) is saved, select a re-evaluation method from the Re-evaluation list. You can select

one of these options:

Never

– VISUAL never re-evaluates the workflow.

and restart workflow here

– When re-evaluating, VISUAL undoes all previously completed steps

in the workflow and restarts the workflow at the current step.

This function is necessary if the information in a workflow document (for example, a customer

order) changes frequently.

and continue where left off

– VISUAL re-starts the workflow from the “start” step and checks the

properties of each rule and step in the workflow to make sure conditions have not changed since

the last time the document was saved. If a condition has changed, the workflow proceeds down

the appropriate path.

When re-evaluating a workflow, VISUAL also checks the evaluation sequence in the Rule

Properties dialog.

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For more information on evaluations, refer to the “Working with Evaluations” section later in this

chapter.

Note:

You must consider all possible conditions or the workflow may not complete the intended

business process.

If this is the first step in the workflow, select the

Start Workflow Here

check box.

To evaluate this step periodically, select the

Evaluate on Timer

check box. The system evaluates

the step based on the interval you set in Preference Maintenance. For example, if you specified

15 in Preferences Maintenance, the system would evaluate the step every 15 minutes.

To set up the interval to use in Preferences Maintenance:

Select

Admin

Preferences Maintenance

If the Preferences table does not contain a Workflow section and DetectMinutes entry, click

Insert Row and specify this information:

Section

– Workflow

Entry

– DetectMinutes

Value

– Specify the frequency in minutes with which the system should evaluate the work flow

step. You can specify a value between 1 and 60.

Click

Save

Clear the check box to check to see if the step needs to be when the user saves the type of

document governed by the workflow.

In the Notifications section, specify this information:

E-mail Address

– Click the

E-mail Address

button and select the address of the person who

receives an email notification. You can also specify an email address using your keyboard.

E-mail Subject

– VISUAL populates the subject line of the notification email with the Workflow ID

($WrkID) and Step number ($WrkStep).

For example,

Workflow Notification 9030/ Step 3

To change the format of the subject line, click in the E-mail Subject field and specify the

information.

E-mail Body

– Workflow populates the body space of the notification email with this information:

• Workflow Type ($WrkType)

• Workflow Name ($WrkName)

• Workflow ID ($WrkID)

• Workflow Step ($WrkStep)

For example,

Workflow $WrkType / $WrkName / $WrkID is at step $WrkStep

E-mail Attachments

– To attach a document to your email, click the

Attachments

button to open

the Email Attachments dialog where you can select a file.

Note:

The VE Programs Link and Documents buttons are reserved for future use.

Execute Command

– To open a program file (for example, an Excel spreadsheet) when the

notification takes place, click the

Execute Command

button and select the action from the dialog.

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To open an VISUAL executable and sign in with the user's ID and password, specify this

information:

${VE:program}

where program is the name of the executable you would like to open. For example, if you would

like to open Customer Order Entry, specify this information:

${VE.VMORDENT.EXE}

You can use workflow rules to identify errors in a process. For example, if you require an

expiration date on all quotes, you can set up a workflow rule that tests for the existence of an

expiration date. See "Working with Rules" on page 9–22 in this guide.

Use the VE Program Action area to specify the actions that occur when the rule that is

immediately before the step is used to identify an error, and the error conditions have been met.

Return error

– Select this check box to indicate that an error has occurred. When an error

occurs, the user cannot save the document that triggered the error.

Stop here if error

– If you selected the

Return error

check box, select the

Stop here if error

check box to stop the workflow. Clear the Stop here if error check box to continue the workflow.

Return message

– If you selected the

Return error

check box, select this check box to display a

message in the error dialog. Specify the text in the Message field. If you selected the

Return

error

check box, we recommend that you also select the Return message check box and specify

text. If you do not select the Return message check box, then <null> is displayed in the error

dialog.

To attach any documents to this step, click the

Document Reference

button and select the

documents. For more information on Document Referencing, refer to the “Referencing a

Document” section later in this chapter.

Click

Referencing Documents

Use the Workflow Document Reference dialog to add supportive documentation, such as instructions,

specifications, or CAD drawings, to a workflow step.

To reference documents in a workflow, you must first add the document in Document Maintenance.

See "Document Maintenance" on page 6–1 in this guide

In the Step Properties dialog, click the

Document Reference

button.

In the Workflow Document Reference dialog, click the

Insert

button.

Specify the ID of the document to reference or double-click the Document ID column heading to

open the List Documents dialog where you can select a Document ID.

Click

Save

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Viewing Status Information

The Step Properties dialog The Status, Started on, Last notified, and Completed fields are read only

and display information only when the step has been triggered in a workflow. You can use the

information in these fields when creating workflow statements. For more information on workflow

statements, refer to the “Working with Statements” section later in this chapter.

The status area displays these fields:

Status

– A workflow step is either In Process or Complete.

Started On

– The date when VISUAL first evaluated this step. This date does not change.

Last notified

– The date when VISUAL last evaluated the step. This date changes each time VISUAL

evaluates the step.

Completed

– The date when VISUAL completed the step.

Deleting Steps

To delete steps, select the step, then right-click and select

Delete

from the right-click menu.

Note:

The workflow program does not display a confirmation message when you delete a step. You

can undo a deletion.

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Working with Rules

Rules determine the path of the workflow. Using the Rule Properties dialog, you can set up approval

tasks (which appear in Task Maintenance application) for a specific user or a group of users. These

users must sign off electronically on the activity before the workflow proceeds to the next step.

You can also assign Authorizations to restrict the enactment of a workflow step to a specific user or

group of users.

Adding Rule Properties

To add rule properties:

If necessary, create a rule line.

Right-click the rule to which you want to add or edit properties.

Select

Properties

The Rule Properties dialog appears.

In the Label field, specify a name for the rule.

You may want to consider using a name indicative of what you are attempting to accomplish with

this rule.

In the Description field, specify a description for the rule.

If you are editing a rule property, the Status, Completed By, and Date/Time fields appear

populated.

In the Evaluation Sequence field, specify a number to indicate the sequence that VISUAL uses to

re-evaluate a workflow path. VISUAL re-evaluates workflow paths sequentially, beginning with 1.

For more information on evaluations, refer to the “Working with Evaluation Sequences” section

later in this chapter.

To use this Rule for assigning tasks, click the

Approval

button and set up the Task Notification list

for this rule. For more information on setting up approvals, refer to the “Working with Tasks”

section later in this chapter.

To set up rule statements, click the

Insert

button and set up the Rules statements to use.

For more information on setting up Rule Statements, refer to the “Working with Statements”

section later in this chapter.

If you have specified rule statements and want to include Authorizations, click the

Authorization

button and set up the Authorization Users for this Rule.

For more information on authorizations, refer to the “Working with Authorizations” section later in

this chapter.

When you have finished setting up the rule, click

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Working with Evaluation Sequences

Using the Re-evaluation list in the Step Properties dialog, you can allow VISUAL to restart a workflow

each time a document (for example, a Purchase Order or Purchase Requisition) is saved. Because a

workflow step may have multiple paths, you can define the sequence in which VISUAL evaluates

each path. The value in the Evaluation Sequence field determines the evaluation order, starting with

Sequence 1 and ending with Sequence 3.

Working with Tasks

The Task List Notification dialog allows you to identify a group of users responsible for approving the

activity before the workflow proceeds to the next step.

For each member of the Task List Notification, Workflow generates a task notification in the Task

Maintenance window, Outlook, or both. For more information, refer to “Selecting Workflow

Preferences” on page 9-32 in this guide.

To set up a task list:

In the Rule Properties dialog, click the

Tasks

button.

The Task List Notification dialog appears.

Click the

Insert

button.

The User/Group ID arrow appears.

Click the arrow and select a user or User Group.

Note:

When you select a group, all members of that group appear on separate lines in the Task

List Notification dialog.

To allow sign off privileges for a user, select the

Signoff

check box. You can give more than one

user signoff privileges.

When you select the Signoff check box, VISUAL creates a task for each user.

To specify that a user is the leader, select the

Leader

check box.

Re-evaluate

Step

Sequence 1

Sequence 2

Sequence 3

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

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Note:

You can only have one leader within your user list: if you change the leader, Workflow

automatically clears the original leader’s check box.

In the Task Specification field, specify a description of the task for this step.

The description you specify in this field also appears in the Specification column in Task

Maintenance.

When you have finished adding users to this step’s task list, click

Save

Deleting Users from Task Lists

To remove users from a task list:

From the Rule dialog, click

Approvals

Click the row header for the user to remove.

The row appears highlighted.

Click

Delete

Click

Save

Workflow and Outlook Tasks

To receive workflow tasks from another user, you must grant that user permission to write to your

Outlook Tasks folder.

To grant permission:

In Microsoft Outlook, display

Tasks

Right-click the Tasks folder and select

Properties

Click the

Permissions

tab.

Click

Add....

Specify the user who should have write-access to your Tasks folder.

In the Write section, select the

Create Items

and

Edit Own

check boxes. See the Outlook online

help for information about other permission levels.

Click

Working with Authorizations

The Authorization dialog allows you to restrict the enactment of a workflow step to a specific user or

users only.

To set up authorization lists:

Working with Rules

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9 – 25

After clicking

Authorization

, the Authorization dialog appears.

Click the

Insert

button.

The User/Group ID arrow appears.

Click the arrow and select a User or User Group from the list.

Note:

If you select a group, the names of all the members of that group appear in the list.

Click

Save

Working with Statements

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Working with Statements

Statements are conditions that trigger actions. They can range from simple one-line statements to

more complex multi-line statements.

To set up statements:

Click the

Insert

button:

In the Table column, click the arrow and select the data table to use for this statement.

The Table column lists all the data tables associated with the application for which you are

creating a workflow. It also contains two “non-standard tables” named Workflow_Rule and

Workflow_Step that allow you to create statements for the condition of a rule or step.

Click in the Column column, click the arrow; then select the column you want to use for this

statement.

The Column column lists all the columns associated with the table you select in the Table column.

If you select Workflow_Rule the list displays Label, Status, and Time Complete. If you select

Workflow_Step, the list displays Action, Label, Status, Time_Started, Time_Complete, and

Time_Notified. For more information, refer to the “Using the Workflow_Step Column” and “Using

the Workflow_Rule Column” sections later in this chapter.

If your statement requires an operator, click in the Operator column, click the arrow; then select

an operator value. Select one of these options:

– Add (Column value + Operator value)

– Subtract (Column value – Operator value)

– Multiply (Column value * Operator value)

– Divide (Column value / Operator value)

If your statement requires an operator value, specify a value in the <Operator> value column

header or double-click the column header and select a value.

Click in the Comparison column, click the arrow; then select the comparison function to use for

this statement. Select one of these options:

– Less than (Column value + Operator value < Comparison value)

– Greater than (Column value + Operator value, Comparison value)

– Equal to (Column value + Operator value = Comparison value)

– Greater than or equal to (Column value + Operator value >= Comparison value)

– Less than or equal to (Column value + Operator value <= Comparison value)

– Not equal to (Column value + Operator value != Comparison value)

– In (Column value + Operator value

Comparison value)

not in

– Not in (Column value + Operator value not in Comparison value)

– Like (Column value + Operator value

Comparison value)

not like

– Not like (Column value + Operator value not like Comparison value)

Working with Statements

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9 – 27

between

– Between two values (Column value + Operator value betweenComparison value)

not between

– Not between (Column value + Operator value not between comparison values)

Click in the Value column and specify the value to use for this statement. When creating

statements that require status values, double-click the column header to view a browse list of

acceptable values.

To combine two statements or compare more than one value, click in the Logical column and

select one of these options:

– If one or more conditions or other conditions must exist before statement can be true, select

the

option. For example, if you have a two line statement the first line OR the second line can

be true for the whole statement to be true.

And

– If multiple conditions must exist before the statement can be true, select the

And

option.

For example, if you have a two line statement, both lines must be true before the whole statement

can be true.

And any

– If the first line and ANY of the subsequent lines must exist before the statement can be

true, select the

And Any

option.

Or any

– If the first line OR any of the subsequent lines must exist before the statement can be

true, select the

Or Any

option.

Next Line

– Use the Next Line option to consider one database column in relation to a second

database column to determine the records to select. For example, to create a statement that

selects parts with a unit price (part.unit_price) that is greater than or equal to 20% more than the

wholesale unit cost (part.whsale_unit_cost), you would specify these two lines:

You can combine more than one Next Line statement. For example, to create a statement that

selects parts with a unit price greater than or equal to 20% of the wholesale unit cost but less than

or equal to 50% of the wholesale unit cost, you would specify these two lines:

You can also create Next Line statements that search for information across two different

database tables. For example, to search for all part IDs that have been used in customer order

lines, you would specify these lines:

When you have finished setting up your statement, click

Working with Statements

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Using the Workflow Rule Table

In a typical workflow, you create statements for tables within an application (for example,

PURCHASE_ORDER for the Purchase Order application). However, some workflows require that

you create a statement for the condition of a specific rule or step. To allow the creation of rule and

step statements, Workflow provides non-database tables, such as Workflow_Rule and

Workflow_Step. These tables allow you to create statements for status and time conditions. For

example, you can set a time condition for a step that must be completed by a specific date.

Creating a Workflow Rule/Step Label Statement

A statement containing a Label value affects the current rule. The trigger for the Label value is the

name of the current rule in the Label field.

For example, the label name of this rule is “PO, $10000.”

To create a Workflow Rule/Statement Label statement:

If necessary open a Rule Properties dialog.

Click the

Insert

button.

In the Table column, click the arrow and select either

Workflow_Rule

Workflow_Step

Click in the Column column, click the arrow and select

Label

If the statement requires a value in the <Operator> Value or <Comparison> Value column, specify

the label name of the current rule.

For more information on completing workflow statements, refer to the “Working with Statements”

section.

Creating a Workflow Rule/Step Status Statement

A statement containing a Status value affects the current rule. The trigger for Status is the value in the

Status field. The Status field is read-only and displays “Complete” when VISUAL has completed the

current rule or “InProcess” when VISUAL has started, but not completed, the current rule.

To create a Workflow_Rule Status statement:

If necessary open a Rule Properties dialog.

Click the

Insert

button.

In the Table column, click the arrow and select either

Workflow_Rule

Workflow_Step

Click in the Column column, click the arrow; then select

Status

If the statement requires a value in the <Operator> Value or <Comparison> Value column, specify

one of these values:

InProcess

– The statement requires that the status of the current rule is in process. The

InProcess

value is case and space sensitive.

Working with Statements

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9 – 29

Complete

– The statement requires that the status of the current rule is complete. The

Complete

value is case sensitive.

For more information on completing workflow statements, refer to the “Working with Statements”

section.

Creating a Workflow Step Time Started Statement

A statement containing a Time Started value affects the previous step. To calculate this value,

Workflow looks at the Started on section in the previous Step Properties dialog.

To create a Workflow_Step Time Started statement:

If necessary open a Step Properties dialog.

Click the

Insert

button.

In the Table column, click the arrow; then select

Workflow_Step

Click in the Column column , click the arrow, then select

Time_Started

If the statement requires a value in the <Operator> Value or <Comparison> Value column,

double-click the column’s header.

In the Offset section, select the time for your operator value; then click the

button.

For more information on completing workflow statements, refer to the “Working with Statements”

section.

Creating a Workflow Step Time Last Notified Statement

A statement containing a Time Notified value affects the previous step. To calculate this value,

VISUAL looks at the Last Notified field in the Step Properties dialog of the previous step.

To create a Workflow_Step Time Notified statement:

If necessary open a Step Properties dialog.

Click the

Insert

button.

In the Table column, click the arrow and select

Workflow_Step

Click in the Column column, click the arrow; then select

Time_Notified

If the statement requires a value in the <Operator> Value or <Comparison> Value column,

double-click the column’s header.

In the Offset section, select the time for your operator value; then click

For more information on completing workflow statements, refer to the “Working with Statements”

section.

Working with Statements

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Creating a Workflow Rule Time Complete Statement

A statement containing a Time Complete value affects the current rule. The trigger for the Time

Complete value is the date in the Date/Time field of the current rule.

To create a Workflow_Rule Time Complete statement:

If necessary open a Rule Properties dialog.

Click the

Insert

button.

In the Table column, click the arrow and select either

Workflow_Rule

Workflow_Step

Click in the Column column, click the arrow; then select

Time_Complete

If the statement requires a value in the <Operator> Value or <Comparison> Value column,

double-click the column’s header.

The calendar dialog appears.

In the Offset section, select the time for your operator value; then click the

button.

For more information on completing workflow statements, refer to the “Working with Statements”

section.

Viewing Workflow Status Codes

The Workflow Status Codes window displays a list of database tables, status column names, and

status values. This window also displays the actual text that appears in status fields. For example, the

Status field in Purchase Order Entry displays values such as

Firmed

Released

, and

Hold

. The

corresponding status values in the Purchase_Order database table are

, and

Use the Workflow Status Codes window as a reference when creating Workflow statements that

require condition comparisons on status columns.

Opening the Workflow Status Codes Window

To open the Workflow Status Codes window:

On the Admin menu, select

Application Global Maintenance

On the Maintain menu, select

Workflow Codes

The Workflow Status Codes window appears.

This information is shown in the Workflow Status Codes Window:

Language

– Click the arrow to view a list all supported languages in the system.

Status Text

– The actual text that appears in the status field of a particular application. For

example, when the value “C” appears in the STATUS column of the PURCHASE_ORDER table,

the status field in Purchase Order Entry displays “Closed.” You can edit status text for any

language except USA.

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Status Value

– The actual value that appears in the status column of the database table. You

cannot edit this field.

Table Name

– The name of the database table.

Column Name

– The name of the status column in the corresponding database table.

Changing Status Text Language

You can edit definitions in the Status Text column to support other languages. You cannot edit

definitions for the USA language code.

To change the status text language:

In the Status Text column, change the text from English to another supported language.

Click the

Copy to Language ID

button.

In the Copy to Language ID list, select the ID of the language to copy the status definition.

Click

Selecting Workflow Preferences

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Selecting Workflow Preferences

To access the Workflow Preferences dialog, select

Preferences

from the Options menu.

You can select these preferences for Workflow:

Rotation Angle

– Specify the angle to which you want to rotate the Workflow window.

Delete on right-click menu

– To display the delete command on the right-click menu, select the

Delete

on Right-click menu check box.

Logging Level

– Specify the number of “undo” levels to track. The greater the quantity of undo levels,

the greater the memory usage.

Make Tasks in

– Click the arrow and select where to make your Workflow tasks. You can select:

VISUAL Task List

– To create tasks only in VISUAL’s task list, select the

VISUAL Task List

option.

Outlook

– If you use Microsoft® Office Outlook® and want to create tasks only for Outlook, select

the

Outlook

option.

Both

– To create tasks in VISUAL’s task list and in Outlook, select the

Both

option.

ECN and Purchase Requisitions Tasks

– Click the arrow and select where to create your

Engineering Change Notice and Purchase Requisition tasks. You can select:

• Task Table Only

• Outlook and Task Table

In the E-mail Settings (SMTP) section, set this outgoing email server information:

Auto Discover

– To detect your settings, select the

Auto Discover

check box. If you select this

setting, you do not need to make any other settings.

Server Name

– Specify the name of your outgoing email server.

Email Address

– Specify the email address to use as a From email address.

MS Exchange User Name

– If you are using MS Exchange, specify the User Name.

Display Name

– Specify a From name.

Logging Workflow Timer Events

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Logging Workflow Timer Events

If you would like to keep a record of all workflow timer events, you can enable the WORKFLOW.LOG

file.

Select

Admin

Preferences Maintenance

Find the LogWorkflowEvents entry in the Workflow section. If it does not exist, click the Insert

button and add the entry to the preferences table.

In the Value field, specify Y.

The system records workflow timer events in the WORKFLOW.LOG file. The system stores the

file in the same directory as your VISUAL executables.

Using the Workflow Tracker

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Using the Workflow Tracker

Workflow Tracker is primarily a view only application that allows you to monitor the status of workflow

documents. Each step section in the work area displays a color-coded border to indicate where the

workflow started, which steps have been completed, and the current step.

With the appropriate permissions, you can manually complete a step in the process or print workflow

reports.

Opening Workflow Tracker

You can start the Workflow Tracker from the Admin menu of the main menu or click the Workflow

Tracker button in any document that has an associated workflow.

Note:

A highlighted Workflow Tracker button indicates that the document has an associated

workflow. A shaded button indicates there is no associated workflow.

To start the Workflow Tracker from an application (for example, Purchase Requisition Entry or

Purchase Order Entry) that has a workflow document in process, do one of these actions:

• Click the

Workflow Tracker

button on the main toolbar of the application.

• On the Info menu, click

Workflow

To start the Workflow Tracker from the main window:

On the Admin menu of the main window, click

Workflow Tracker

Click the

Application Area

arrow and select the application area where you created the template.

Click the

Document ID

button and select the workflow to open.

VISUAL creates a unique workflow document is for every enactment of the workflow.

Click

The workflow you selected appears in the Workflow Tracker window.

Understanding Color Codes in Workflow Tracker

The color of each step in the workflow shows the status of the step:

Blue

– A blue dash outline indicates the starting workflow step.

Black

– A black dash outline indicates a completed workflow step.

Yellow

– A yellow dash outline indicates the current workflow step.

Using the Workflow Tracker

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Viewing Rule Status Information

To view the status of a workflow rule:

Right-click the rule for which you want to view status information.

The Rule Properties dialog appears.

View status information in these fields:

Status

– Indicates whether the task or authorization is complete or in process.

Completed by

– Indicates who completed the task or authorization.

Date/Time

– Indicates when the task or authorization was completed.

Viewing Step Status Information

To view the status of a workflow step:

Right-click the step for which you want to view status information.

The Step Properties dialog appears.

View status information in these fields:

Status

– Indicates whether the workflow step is complete or in process.

Started On

– The date when VISUAL first evaluated this step. This date does not change.

Last notified

– The date when VISUAL last evaluated the step. This date changes each time

VISUAL evaluates the step.

Completed

– The date when VISUAL completed the step.

Marking a Step Done

With appropriate permissions, you can manually override an authorization. For example, when a rule

requires the authorization of a user who is on vacation, you can mark the step done so that the

workflow can continue to the next step.

To mark a step done:

Right-click the rule to authorize.

In the menu, select

Mark Done

The workflow continues to the next step.

Using the Workflow Tracker

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Marking a Step Undone

With appropriate permissions, you can revert the state of an authorization to an undone condition.

To mark a step undone:

Right-click the rule to authorize.

In the menu, select

Mark Undone

The workflow reverts to an undone condition.

Printing a Workflow Tracker Diagram

To print a Workflow Tracker diagram, do one of these actions:

• On the Main toolbar, click

• On the File menu, select

Using the Workflow Gatekeeper

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9 – 37

Using the Workflow Gatekeeper

While the Workflow Tracker shows you what is occurring within the confines of a specific workflow,

the Gatekeeper allows you to view all of the related processes as they relate to the current Workflow

Template. For example, if you are viewing a workflow that incorporates Purchase Orders, you can

use the Gatekeeper to view all of the rules within the workflow and all of your processes at that rule

awaiting action—too many purchase orders at one rule may indicate a bottleneck.

This allows you to view what steps have and have not been completed, thus indicating where

possible bottlenecks may be occurring. This allows management to view the overall effectiveness of

the workflow as it relates to VISUAL as a whole and helps in the design of more efficient workflows.

To start and use the Gatekeeper:

Open the Workflow Tracker or Workflow Designer and select the Template Name and Document

ID in the Open Existing Workflow dialog.

The Workflow Tracker opens populated with the document you selected.

Click the

Gatekeeper

toolbar button.

The Gatekeeper window opens populated with the rules at which VISUAL encounters processes

awaiting action.

A graphical representation of the number of records awaiting at each rule appears in the

Gatekeeper.

Note:

If you have a wide range of records, you can use the Bar Scale to change the graphical

representation.

To view the records at a specific rule, double-click the rule in which you are interested.

The Bottleneck List window appears populated with the records at the rule you selected.

To view the document on a line in the table, double-click the line in which you are interested.

VISUAL populates the Workflow Tracker window with the document you selected.

To close the Bottleneck List window, click

To close the Gatekeeper window, click

Using the Workflow Gatekeeper

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Allocation Utilities

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

10 – 1

Chapter 10: Allocation Utilities

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is the Allocation Utility?........................................................................................................ 10–2

Allocation Processing ................................................................................................................... 10–2

Behind the Scenes of the Allocation Process ............................................................................... 10–3

Setting Up and Running the Allocation Utility ............................................................................... 10–3

Understanding Allocation .............................................................................................................. 10–4

What is the Allocation Utility?

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

What is the Allocation Utility?

The Allocation Utility performs soft allocations of supply quantities to customer order demand in a

“batch mode.” Use the Allocation Utility to establish allocations, or “links,” of supply to customer

orders by part and/or warehouse and decrease the time you would normally spend in Customer Order

Entry looking for suitable links of supply for customer orders, one line at a time.

Allocation is by site.

Allocation Processing

The Allocation Utility performs allocations in two modes: by part and by warehouse. Allocation by part

commits supply to demand irrespective of warehouse; allocation by warehouse commits supply to

demand from the same warehouse.

De-allocation

Before creating new allocations, you can remove existing allocations. Permission to do this, to “de-

allocate,” is controlled first by the REALLOCATE setting on the demand/supply link record.

If REALLOCATE is set to

on the link, the Allocation Utility does not de-allocate the link.

If REALLOCATE is set to

Yes

on the link record, the Allocation Utility references the customer

REALLOCATE setting.

This allows a given allocation to be “fixed” by the user, regardless of the customer setting.

During the entering of Customer Types in Accounting Entity Maintenance, you can specify, per type, if

reallocation is a default setting. In Customer Maintenance, when you select a Customer Type for a

customer, this default carries over to the customer. You can, however, override this setting by

selecting or clearing the Reallocate check box as appropriate.

Note:

The REALLOCATE function does remove the allocation, but it puts it back, together with any

new allocations, when the allocation utility is run. To fully remove an allocation, you must manually

remove the allocation.

Sequencing

The first step in performing allocations is the proper sequencing of supply and demand. The first

material available to the Allocation Utility is on-hand inventory. After the inventory has been

committed, the Allocation Utility sequences future supply orders by due date. Relevant supply order

types include purchase orders, work orders, work order coproducts, IBTs, and possibly planned

orders.

What is the Allocation Utility?

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

10 – 3

The first set of demand orders the Allocation Utility considers are back orders sequenced by rank and

due date. It sequences other demand orders by rank (priority) according to customer type and due

date.

The Allocation Utility considers only customer orders as demand.

Behind the Scenes of the Allocation Process

Allocation is done by site. The Allocation utility allocates supply to demand in three passes:

It attempts to allocate on hand inventory to demand orders in rank (priority), due date order.

If supply is sufficient and committed to all demand orders, allocation is complete. If not, pass 2

and 3 are still available.

Allocate on hand inventory to demand in rank, due date order, up to the fill rate on the order.

Allocate remaining on hand inventory and future supply orders to demand orders in rank, due

date order until supply runs out.

Orders that received fill rate allocation in pass two are eligible to receive future supply allocation

in this pass.

The Allocation Utility only considers demand orders that have a ship date within the allocation

fence.

During allocation by warehouse, the Allocation Utility disregards any orders that do not have

Warehouse IDs.

Setting Up and Running the Allocation Utility

To set up and run the allocation preferences:

From the Admin menu, select the

Allocation Utilities

. option.

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, click the

Site ID

arrow and select the site to use. If you

are licensed to use a single site, this field is unavailable.

To allocate for a range of parts, click the appropriate browse button and select the Starting and

Ending Part IDs to use.

To allocate for a range of warehouses, click the appropriate browse button and select the Starting

and Ending Warehouse IDs to use.

Note:

By entering only a Starting ID, VISUAL ignores all parts prior to that ID and includes the ID

and all those after it. By entering only and Ending ID, VISUAL includes all parts up to and

including the ID, and ignores all parts after it.

In the Options for allocating inventory section, select these options:

Allocate On-hold Inventory

– To allocate inventory that is currently on-hold, select the

Allocate

On-Hold Inventory

check box. Classify parts as on-hold in Warehouse Maintenance.

What is the Allocation Utility?

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Allocate Unavailable Inventory

– To allocate inventory that is currently unavailable, select the

Allocate Unavailable Inventory

check box. Classify parts as unavailable in Warehouse

Maintenance.

Reevaluate Partial Allocations

– To reevaluate those demands to which it has already made

partial allocations, select the

Reevaluate Partial Allocations

check box.

In the Options for Allocating Future Supply section, select these options:

Allocate Future Supply Orders

– To consider supply orders to be received in the future as it

allocates supply to customer order demand, select the

Allocate Future Supply Orders

check

box.

Relevant supply order types include purchase orders, work orders, work order coproducts,

interbranch transfers, and possibly planned orders.

If you select the Allocate Future Supply Orders check box, you can select where to assign the

allocation:

Allocate Unreleased Orders

– To allocate unreleased work order quantities to customer order

demand, select the

Allocate Unreleased Orders

check box.

Allocate Firmed Orders

– To allocate firmed work order quantities to customer order demand,

select the

Allocate Firmed Orders

check box.

Click the

Run

toolbar button.

As the Utility carries out your allocation instructions, a progress dialog box appears.

Note:

To stop the allocation before it has finished, click the

Cancel

button.

If the allocation session is successful, a message appears.

Click

When you have finished allocating, select

Exit

from the File menu.

Understanding Allocation

This example illustrates how the Allocation Utility allocates supply to a customer order for which there

is insufficient stock of on-hand inventory to satisfy demand.

Example scenario:

• There is, at the time of order, a quantity of 383 in Warehouse MMC-MAIN.

• There is a purchase order for 300 of the same parts due in on 1/10/2008.

• There is an unreleased work order for 5,000 due to reach released status on 1/11/2008.

• No quantity of this part is on hold or unavailable in warehouse MMC-MAIN.

You would set up the allocation utility as follows:

By selecting the same Starting and Ending Part IDs, VISUAL will allocate supply only for the part you

select.

By selecting the same Starting and Ending Warehouse IDs, VISUAL will allocate supplies from within

that warehouse.

What is the Allocation Utility?

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10 – 5

Because all of the check boxes in the Options for Allocating Inventory section are clear, VISUAL will

only use available supplies for current demand.

Because all of the check boxes in the Options for Allocating Future Supply sections are selected,

VISUAL will try to use orders you expect to receive in the future for demand you expect to need in the

future.

When you run the Allocation Utility, these actions are performed:

On the first pass, the Allocation Utility allocates the 383 parts in inventory in MMC-MAIN to the

customer order according to the customer’s priority and the due date of the order. Because this is the

only order for this part, all 383 parts are allocated to this order. The customer’s priority and fill rate

mean nothing.

On the second pass, nothing occurs because this is the only customer order for this part.

On the third pass, the Allocation utility checks future supply for quantities to allocate to the customer

order. It looks for the earliest date. In the case of unreleased or firmed work orders, the release date,

or in the case of purchase orders, the receive date.

Finding the purchase order with a release date of 1/10/2008, it allocates the purchase order quantity

of 300 to the customer order. Continuing to look, it finds the unreleased work order with a release

date of 1/11/2008 and an order quantity of 5,000, and allocates the remainder to the customer order.

When you open the customer order after running the Allocation utility, “Multiple Links” appears in the

Supply Type column indicting that VISUAL obtained supply for this customer order from more than

one source. In this case, VISUAL obtained supply from inventory, a purchase order, and an

unreleased work order.

In the Customer Order entry window, highlight the order line and select the

Assign Supply to

Customer Order Line

option from the Edit menu. The Supply Links dialog box appears with the three

links of supply the Allocation Utility created appearing in the line item table. See“Customer Order

Entry” on page 7-1 in the Sales guide.

What is the Allocation Utility?

10 – 6

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Data Interchange

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

11 – 1

Chapter 11: Data Interchange

This chapter includes this information:

Topic Page

What is Data Interchange? ............................................................................................................11–2

What is EDI?..................................................................................................................................11–2

What is Electronic Commerce? .....................................................................................................11–2

What is Integration?.......................................................................................................................11–3

EDI Requirements .........................................................................................................................11–3

Starting the Generate the Data Import Layouts Window ...............................................................11–5

Inbound & Outbound Layout Process Overview............................................................................11–5

Considerations Before Creating Data Imports Layouts .................................................................11–5

Using the Generate Data Import Layouts Window ........................................................................11–8

Starting the Data Import Exchange Window................................................................................11–24

Importing and Exporting Data In the Data Import Exchange Window .........................................11–24

Running the Data Interchange Utility in Command Line Mode....................................................11–33

Integration Requirements ............................................................................................................11–35

EDI Transaction 850 - Purchase Order........................................................................................11–36

A Glossary of EDI Terms..............................................................................................................11–38

ANSI X12 EDI Transaction Sets ..................................................................................................11–38

Tips for Successful Importing and Exporting ...............................................................................11–44

What is Data Interchange?

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What is Data Interchange?

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is an optional module that imports and exports data into and out of

VISUAL. The import and export occurs using VISUAL’s Data Interchange (.VDI) files. There are two

executables that perform this function. VMDIGEN.exe, the Generate Data Import Layouts window,

defines the .VDI file layouts. VMDIXCHG.exe, the Data Import Utility Exchange window, performs the

import or export of data.

If you have the line

EDI Menus=Yes (“Y” or “1” also apply)

in Preferences Maintenance, the system

displays an EDI menu in the main toolbar. You can open all three EDI applications from this menu.

What is EDI?

EDI is the electronic exchange of business documents in a predefined standard format. As a key

component of Electronic Commerce, EDI controls costs, improves quality, increases efficiency, and

gains strategic advantage.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sets the standards for EDI in the United States.

The United Nations standards body, UN/EDIFACT, sets the international standards for EDI. The

ANSI accredited standards committee, X12, is the U.S. representative to the United Nations

standards body. The ASC X12 standards specify the format and data content of electronic business

transactions. Through the use of the standard, all organizations can enjoy the efficiencies of a

common interchange language.

What is Electronic Commerce?

Electronic commerce is a general term that refers to the use of computer and telecommunications

technologies to support trading in goods and services. Some technologies such as EDI, electronic

mail, and electronic funds transfer are already widely used. Some of them (including EDI) require

agreements between trading partners (buyers and suppliers) in order to govern the electronic trading

relationship.

Electronic commerce technologies can be used in any environment where documents are exchanged

between organizations, including procurement/purchasing, finance, trade and transport, health, law

and revenue/tax collection.

The potential benefits for both suppliers and buyers include reduced paperwork and administrative

lead times, more timely business transactions, quicker and easier access to information, and reduced

need to re-key information into computers. These benefits allow agencies to adopt more efficient

purchasing practices such as Just-In-Time, Quick Response, and Direct Store Delivery.

What is Data Interchange?

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11 – 3

What is Integration?

An ideal extension of EDI-capability is to provide a seamless solution between the EDI translation

software and another major application that can utilize incoming data and/or produce outgoing data,

such as VISUAL. The “sharing” of data between applications is called Integration. The obvious benefit

of integration is the elimination of redundant data entry. Other benefits include the reduction of errors

due to re-keying, and the reduction of personnel that are necessary for data entry.

The Data Import Utility provides integration capability between VISUAL and your EDI software.

You can directly integrate this information through the Data Import Utility:

• Actual Demand Information (Inbound Customer Orders (CPO))

• Planning or Forecasting Information (Inbound Master Scheduler/Customer Forecast (PLN))

• Actual Cash Receipt information (Inbound Cash Receipts for Invoices (CSH))

• Purchase Receipt Acknowledgement (RCA)

• Outbound Customer Order and Customer Order Change Acknowledgments (ACK)

• Actual Shipment Information (Outbound Advance Ship Notice (ASN))

• Actual Accounts Receivable Information (Outbound Invoices (INV))

• Vendor Purchase Order Information (Outbound Purchase Orders (VPO))

• Warehouse Shipment Advice (WSA)

Integration Requirements

Integration between an EDI translator and VISUAL usually requires the use of integration “maps.”

Both the translation software and VISUAL often require maps that format the data that is brought into

or extracted from the database.

There are many commercially available EDI communication software products that will allow you to

build maps in that software to produce the file formats readable by VISUAL’s data integration module.

Integration with those products is available from our Professional Services Organization as well as

from some of our channel partners.

In order to integrate your EDI data with VISUAL, you must determine which fields VMDIXCHG

populates (inbound data) and from which it extracts (outbound data). To do this, use the the Data

Import Utility Generate Layouts window to define the file layout and select the fields for each record

type.

EDI Requirements

Translation software is required, which has its own hardware requirements. The Data Import Utility

module from Infor Global Solutions is required for integration.

Communication requirements include an Async/Bysync Hayes® compatible modem as well as a

method of transferring data (not provided by Infor Global Solutions), either a Value Added Network

(VAN) account, direct connection to a trading partner, or Internet access.

What is Data Interchange?

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In the interest of a timely and cost-effective implementation, Infor Global Solutions will help determine

your EDI implementation requirements by conducting a needs assessment, assisting with an EDI

software purchase, and providing services and support.

Starting the Generate the Data Import Layouts Window

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Starting the Generate the Data Import Layouts

Window

You need to define the .VDI file formats using the Generate Data Import Layouts window before the

Data Import Utility can support any import or export activity. Because the necessary data in any given

application depends on the destination or source, the Data Import Utility requires you to indicate

exactly which data elements it will use. While you are responsible for specifying the elements of each

table, the Data Import Utility controls the sequence of the elements in the file layout.

To start the Generate Data Import Layouts window:

Select

Data Import Generate

from the EDI menu.

Inbound & Outbound Layout Process Overview

Inbound Layout

Once you know the data fields you are importing, use the Generate Data Import window to define a

.VDI file layout to match the data with the proper VE fields. After you complete this, the Data Import

Exchange window expects to import a file that matches the layout.

Outbound Layout

Use the EDI implementation guide from your trading partner or sample EDI data to determine which

data fields you need to extract from your database in order to create the necessary EDI file. Then use

the Data Import Generate Layouts window to select the fields, design the exported file layout, and

record definitions. Finally, use the EDI mapping software to translate the data into the EDI software

for transmission to your trading partner.

Considerations Before Creating Data Imports Layouts

This section contains some basic information about creating Data Import layouts. After this section,

specific instructions for creating layouts of each type appear.

Caution:

The data you are exporting may be sensitive; therefore, you may want to limit

accessibility to VMDIGEN.exe. Use Security Maintenance to control user access.

Starting the Generate the Data Import Layouts Window

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Accessing Layouts

The Key/Version and Description buttons allow you to select a layout from the list of existing layouts.

Once you have created and saved a layout, you can access it using either of these buttons.

File Types

Outbound files can have a file type of either Single or Multiple; Inbound files may only have a File

Type of Single. For this type, the Multiple radio button is unavailable.

Record and File Naming

The Multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. VISUAL imports and exports Header

tab fields as records beginning with the letters HDR.; the .VDI file name ends in the letter H. For

example, ACK0001H.VDI contains the HDR records exported for layout 0001. Header Special Detail

tab fields are records beginning with the letters SDL; the .VDI file name ends in the letter D. The Line

Item tab fields are records beginning with the letters LIN; .VDI file name ends in the letter L. The Sub

Line Item tab fields are records beginning with the letters SUB; .VDI file name ends in the letter S.

The Additional Line Item tab fields are records beginning with the letters ASL; .VDI file name ends in

the letter A.

Tab Access

All 5 tabs described above are available to the

ASN

and

WSA

keys. The

ACK

CPO

, and

VPO

keys

allow you access to the Header, Line Item, and Sub Line Item tabs. The

CSH

INV

, and

RCA

keys

allow you access to the Header and Line Item tabs. The

PLN

key allows you access to the Header

tab.

File Styles

Fixed File Style

A fixed file indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed” space for each

field and record. For example, if you have selected the Part ID in the Line Item tab of your VMDIGEN

layout, and the layout shows the Part ID as being 30 characters long at position 25, then each time

you export the Part ID for the LIN records of this layout, it will begin at position 25 and will take up 30

character positions. Typically, the Data Import Exchange module blank fills the unused portion of any

alphanumeric fields and zero fills the unused portion of any decimal or number fields.

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Fixed Style and Newline

If you select Fixed as the File Style, you can also choose from the Record drop-down list. For

example, if you want fields in the records to appear in fixed positions (per layout) and each record to

appear on its own line, you would choose Fixed as the file type and then Newline from the record

drop-down list. For Fixed layouts for which you have selected nothing from the record drop-down,

VISUAL normally imports or exports all records on the same line.

Delimited File Style

If you select Delimited as the style, you also need to select a delimiter for the end of each record, and

the character VISUAL should use to separate each field in the record. For example, if you have

selected the Part ID in the Line Item tab of your Delimited VMDIGEN layout, and Newline is your

record type, Comma your field delimiter, your data would be:

LIN,02001,1,PRODUCT_P,55

LIN,02001,2,PRODUCT_Q,18

Immediately after the last bit of data in the Part ID field would be a comma, followed by the start of the

next field. At the end of each record, VISUAL starts a new line for the next record. In the example

above, 02001 is the Customer Order ID, followed by the Line Number, the Part ID, and the Quantity.

The example uses Newline as the record delimiter, so each LIN record appears on its own line. The

Delimited style does not blank-fill or zero-fill the unused portion of any exported fields – only the

actual data is exported (and VISUAL only expects to find the actual data in the VDI file you are

importing).

Accessibility to Buttons and Boxes

For keys ASN, ACK, INV, RCA, VPO, and WSA the Inbound radio button is unavailable; for keys

CPO, PLN, and CSH, the Outbound radio button is unavailable.

Several buttons and boxes are accessible to you only for CPO layouts. As a result, those buttons and

boxes are unavailable for all other layouts. The fields you can use for CPO layouts are the Inbound

Duplicates Rule button (listed to the right of the fields on the Header tab, these buttons handle the

Update, Reject and Replace functions); the Delete Unshipped Lines checkbox (listed to the right of

fields on the Line Item tab); and the Delete Unshipped Schedules checkbox (listed to the right of fields

on the Sub Line Item tab).

Accessibility to Options Menu Choices

Keys CSH, CPO, and ACK are the only keys for which you can select special settings. For keys ASN,

INV, PLN, and VPO, the special settings options are unavailable.

The Options menu option Flush Temp. Cash Tables is only available for key CSH.

The Options menu option Print Length Discrepancies is available for all keys.

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Mandatory Fields

When selecting data fields for any layout key, you may notice that certain fields under each tab are

selected by default and some are simply unavailable. Fields selected by default are Mandatory fields

for the key with which you are currently working. Any inbound CPO, PLN, or CSH Data Import layouts

and .VDI files must contain the Mandatory fields in order to import properly. Also, any outbound ASN,

ACK, INV, RCA, VPO, and WSA layout automatically exports these Mandatory fields as part of the

tabs you use in the layout.

Hidden Fields

When selecting data fields for the CPO layout key, you may notice that certain fields under each tab

are not visible among the Data Import layout fields. VISUAL addresses these fields; they are

classified as Hidden for the CPO. As a result, you can’t import data to those fields.

The database fields still exist (as you can easily verify – see your System Administrator for more

information). The only field hidden in the VPO key is the Purc_Line_Del.Del_Sched_Line_No (in the

Sub Line Item tab). There are no hidden fields for keys ACK, ASN, CSH, INV, or PLN. If interested,

please see the available Hidden field listing.

Default Layouts

When you start VMDIGEN for the first time, the program creates pre-defined Default layouts for the

seven available layout keys and assigns each a version number of 0000. You can use these default

layouts as you would any manually created layout, meaning you can modify or delete them. If you do

delete a layout, the Data Import Utility recreates the layout automatically the next time you start the

program. If interested, please see the available Default field layout listings.

Using the Generate Data Import Layouts Window

Creating ACK Layouts (Customer Acknowledgements)

From the Key/Version list box, select

ACK

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file.

Multiple file

- The multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. Available record

types for ACK are HDR, LIN, and SUB.

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

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The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing the Data Import Utility that the data in the

.VDI file varies in size. You also need to select a delimiter for the end of each record and the

character VISUAL should use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed

description of Delimited styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

From the Options menu, select

Special Settings

or click the

Special Settings

button on the main

toolbar.

The Special Settings dialog box appears. The ACK tab has the default position. You cannot select

the other tabs.

Select the appropriate option:

Original Orders Only (855)

- Select this option button to acknowledge original customer orders

only. Original orders are orders with the EDI Release checkbox selected but not the Order

Changed checkbox. These check boxes appear in the EDI tab of the Customer Order Entry

window.

Change Orders Only (865)

- Select this option button to acknowledge changed customer orders

only. Changed orders are orders with both the EDI Release checkbox selected

and

Order

Changed checkbox selected. These check boxes appear in the EDI tab of the Customer Order

Entry window.

When you update an existing order using Data Import Exchange, VISUAL selects the Order

Changed checkbox. When you manually make changes to new orders in Customer Order Entry,

you have to manually mark the Order Changed checkbox. You can clear the checkbox if you

mistakenly change an order prior to exporting your 855 ACK documents.

If multiple 865 layouts exist for the same customer, the 865 ACK is only exported one time per

change. That is, if you have orders with Order changed checkbox marked and you export 865

ACK, you cannot export the same orders with another layout -- unless you first re-select the

checkbox.

Both Original and Change (ORDRSP)

- Select this option button to acknowledge both original

and changed customer orders.

When you update an existing order using Data Import Exchange, VISUAL selects the Order

Changed checkbox. When you manually make changes to new orders in Customer Order Entry,

you have to manually mark the Order Changed checkbox. You can clear the checkbox if you

mistakenly change an order prior to exporting your 855 ACK documents.

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Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

If multiple 865 layouts exist for the same customer, the 865 ACK is only exported one time per

change. That is, if you have orders with Order changed checkbox marked and you export 865

ACK, you cannot export the same orders with another layout -- unless you first re-select the

checkbox.

The Data Import Utility includes Customer Order Acknowledgment Codes on every line item (LIN

record) of your ACK (this applies to 855 as well as 865 documents). You can enter and maintain

common Customer Order Ack Codes using in Application Global Maintenance. If the codes your

trading partner requires you to use are not in the default list, you may add them. For more

information, refer to the “Application Global Maintenance” chapter.

When your EDI order is saved or received via VMDIXCHG, all customer order line items have

your default code on them. For example, some clients use the IA code (Item Accepted), some use

AC (Item Accepted and Shipped), and others might use some mutually-agreed upon code. You

can add as many codes as you need. Do this in Customer Maintenance. For more information,

refer to the “Customer Order Entry” chapter.

Click

to commit these settings.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section Defining Record Layout later in this chapter for

more information.

In Customer Order Entry, customer order line items receive the default code you chose for the

customer. Before exporting your ACK documents, you may find one of your line items requires a

code other than the default. For example, you may have IA as your default, but need to send IH

(Item on Hold) for this one line item.

In that case,

• Open Customer Order Entry and find the order.

• Highlight the line item and scroll over to the far right of the line item table.

• Select the Ack Code field and choose the code.

• Save the order.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Creating ASN Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

ASN

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file.

Multiple file

- The multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. Available record

types for ASN are HDR, SDL, LIN, SUB, and ASL.

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

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Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing VISUAL that the data in the .VDI file varies

in size. You also need toselect a delimiter for the end of each record and the character VISUAL

should use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed description of Delimited

styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter

Creating CPO Layouts in VMDIGEN

If you are licensed to use multiple sites, use caution when defining and using a CPO layout. Since you

specify the Allocations Require Warehouse/Location setting (DDP) on the accounting entity record,

some of your entities may require you to specify warehouse IDs/locations in allocations (DDP

enabled) while others do not. Sites assigned to an accounting entity inherit the accounting entity’s

setting. As a result, the warehouse ID in all CPO layouts is optional.

If you plan to use a CPO layout in conjunction with a site that is DDP enabled, you must select a CPO

layout that contains a Warehouse ID. If you import a .vdi without a warehouse ID to a site that

requires the warehouse, the file import will fail.

If your site is DDP enabled, all customer order lines in the .vdi file must include the warehouse ID.

Otherwise, the file import will fail.

If your site is not DDP enabled, you can include a warehouse ID in a CPO layout even though the site

does not require a warehouse. If a warehouse is specified in the .vdi file, then the warehouse ID will

be inserted in the customer order line. If a warehouse is not included in the .vdi file, the file import will

still be successful because the site does not require the warehouse.

From the Key/Version list box, select

CPO

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

In the Description field, enter a description for the layout key. Click

Description

to choose a

predefined layout key description.

From the File Style section, select the appropriate file style.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- Choose this option if you want the data in the .VDI file(s) to always occupy the same

“fixed” space for each field and record.

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Delimited

- Choose this option if the data in the .VDI file varies in size.

Select the appropriate delimiter for the end of each record, and a character to separate each field

in the record.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own line),

choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

Click the

Header

tab and choose the appropriate Inbound Duplicates Rule for headers, line items,

and delivery schedules.

Note:

The Update check box must be selected in the Header Inbound Rule section to use Line

Item Duplicate and Delivery Schedule Duplicate features.

During the import of data, the Data Import Utility checks the import file records to see if duplicate

data exists. Duplicate data has the same primary key in the targeted VISUAL table.

For CPO imports, a duplicate customer order has the same Customer Order ID as an order that

already exists in the database.

If a quantity exists in the SUB record, VISUAL compares the quantity of the first delivery schedule

to it, and then updates it with the quantity with the difference between the two. If the first delivery

schedule is less than the fab build qty, and you are using the Fab Build Quantity as your base,

VISUAL reduces the first delivery schedule qty to 0. If there is no fab build qty at the time of

import, VISUAL imports the first delivery schedule qty in the VDI file (as if you had chosen to

import as discrete).

Select Header, Line Item Duplicate, and Delivery Schedule Duplicate options:

Header

Insert

- Select the

Insert

check box to allow the insert of new customer orders

Update

- Select the

Update

check box to allow the update of existing customer orders

Line Item Duplicate

Insert

- Select the

Insert

check box to allow the insert of new line items.

Update

- Select the

Update

check box to allow the update of existing line items.

Delivery Schedule Duplicate

Insert

- Select the

Insert

check box to allow the insert of new delivery schedules.

Update

- Select the

Update

check box to allow the update of existing delivery schedules.

Choose a method of calculating quantity:

Cumulative

- Select the

Cumulative

option button to use the difference between prior values and

the delivery schedule value.

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Discrete

- Select the

Discrete

option button to import the actual delivery schedule quantities

included in the SUB (delivery schedule) records of the CPO VDI file. VISUAL performs no

calculations or computations.

Choose a Cumulative Base:

Shipped Quantity

- Select the

Shipped Quantity

option button to use the actual ship quantity

plus any adjustment as the starting point.

Fab Build

- Select the

Fab Build

option button to use the Fab Build Quantity as the starting point.

Select these check boxes as they apply to the CPO layout you are creating:

Mark EDI Blanket Flag

- To mark the imported customer order as a Blanket order when you run

VMDI Exchange for a CPO layout, select the

Mark EDI Blanket Flag

check box.

Update Dispatched Orders

- If you have DCMS installed and you want VMDI Exchange to

update the customer orders with information from the .VDI file, select the

Update Dispatched

Orders

check box.

Click the

Line Item

tab and select the

Delete Unshipped Lines

check box to delete any

unshipped lines on an order before updating with updated data from a new .VDI file. This feature

is useful for customers whose trading partners insist that they delete any customer order line

items not shipped on an order prior to receiving updates for that order.

If you select to Delete Unshipped Lines, this warning message is shown:

“This will delete ALL unshipped lines on matching imported customer order headers regardless of

which lines are imported. Processing will also delete ALL unshipped delivery schedule lines for

those customer order lines containing delivery schedules.”

Click the

Sub Line Item

tab and select the

Delete Unshipped Schedules

check box to delete

any unshipped delivery schedules on an order before updating with updated data from a new .VDI

file. This feature is useful for customers whose trading partner insists that they delete any

customer order delivery schedule lines not shipped on an order prior to receiving in updates for

that order.

If you select to Delete Unshipped Schedules, this warning message is shown:

“This will delete ALL unshipped delivery schedule lines of those matching customer order line(s)

being imported.”

Click the

Line Item

tab and begin to establish Match Fields.

If you have chosen Update (see step 6) as your inbound rule, you can choose how to determine

line item matches for your CPO layout. If you do not choose any line item match fields, VISUAL

updates line items based on a match of the Part ID. If you have multiple line items on an order for

the same Part ID, it will only update the first occurrence of the part. You may need to choose

additional match fields to avoid that problem.

It is possible to use the line item number as a match field, but many EDI trading partners don’t use

the line item number in the incoming data. You may need to use other fields to determine the

correct line item for update.

To solve the problem of matching on the line item number, choose other fields for VISUAL to send

in the line item. You can choose a combination of fields that allow you to create a unique line item

in the order. If the combination you have selected does not determine unique line items, you will

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need to add more fields to your match criteria until you find the right combination. For example,

Part ID and EDI Release Number may determine a unique line item for your order. If that’s not

unique, try adding the Shipto ID field.

Note:

If you use the line item number field as part of your match criteria, VISUAL ignores all other

match fields and the line item number determines the match.

Also, if you have delivery schedules on your line items, do not use the Desired Ship Date field as

part of your match criteria. VISUAL uses the Desired Ship Dates in all of the delivery schedules

for the line item and finds the earliest date, and then updates the Desired Ship Date field on the

line item with that date. If you use delivery schedules, make an effort to avoid using the Desired

Ship Date field as part of your match criteria.

If you are not using delivery schedules, the Desired Ship Date is fine to use as part of your match

criteria.

In the Available Match Fields data field, highlight the field to add.

Click the

Right

Arrow to move the field into the Selected Match Fields section date field.

Repeat this procedure for each line.

Select

Special Settings

from the Options menu or click the

Special Settings

button on the main

toolbar.

The Special Settings dialog box appears. The CPO tab has the default position. You cannot select

the other tabs.

Select the appropriate options:

Select the

Auto Generate CO ID

check box to generate the Customer Order ID for you. After

selecting this check box, you must enter a Prefix Token for use in your VDI file.

During the exchange of EDI data, VISUAL replaces the token with the actual generated Customer

Order ID.

With the Autogenerate CO ID check box selected, VISUAL generates unique Customer Order IDs

for incoming EDI customer orders. You cannot, however, use this feature if order details may

change, because VISUAL has no way of matching the original order with the incoming changes to

the order. Use this feature for unique, discrete customer orders that you are sure will not change.

Enter a prefix token in the Prefix Token field.

During the exchange of EDI data, VISUAL looks for this token in the 4th column on each header,

line, and subline in your VDI import file.

Click

to commit the special settings.

Creating CSH Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

CSH

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

From the Options men, select

Special Settings

or click the Special Settings button on the main

toolbar.

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The Special Settings dialog box appears. The CSH tab has the default position. You cannot select

the other tabs.

Select the appropriate search option:

Search Invoices Based on:

Invoice ID

- VISUAL searches invoices based on Invoice ID

Packlist ID

- VISUAL searches invoices based on Packlist ID

BOL ID

- VISUAL searches invoices based on BOL ID

ASN ID

- VISUAL searches invoices based on ASN ID.

Click

to commit these settings.

To flush out the temporary cash tables, select

Flush Temp. Cash Tables

from the Options menu.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Creating INV Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

INV

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file.

Multiple file

- The multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. Available record

types for INV are HDR and LIN.

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing the Data Import Utility that the data in the

.VDI file varies in size. You also need to select a delimiter for the end of each record and the

character VISUAL should use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed

description of Delimited styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

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Click

to commit these settings.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Creating PLN Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

PLN

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file. The only available record type for

used for PLN is HDR. PLN documents are imported from single files only. No multiple file option is

available.

Multiple file

- Not available for layout PLN

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing the Data Import Utility that the data in the

.VDI file varies in size. You also need to select a delimiter for the end of each record and the

character VISUAL should use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed

description of Delimited styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

From the Header Tables tab, select the appropriate inbound duplicates rule.

During the import of data, the Data Import Utility checks the import file records to see if duplicate

data exists. Duplicate data has the same primary keys in the targeted VISUAL table.

In the case of PLN imports, a duplicate forecast has the same Customer ID, Forecast ID and Part

ID as a forecast that already exists in the database.

Update

- Select this option to examine the 3-field key above and update the forecast the data

from the .VDI file if it finds a match. If VISUAL finds the same dates in the forecast in both the .VDI

file and in VISUAL, it updates the records; if it finds new dates in the .VDI file, it adds the records.

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Reject

- Select this option to ignore data in the .VDI file that has the same primary keys as data in

the target VISUAL table. In the case of PLN imports, if VISUAL finds a match on the 3-field key it

will throw out the .VDI file forecast (leaving the forecast in VISUAL untouched) and write an entry

to the log file. No information is written to the database for the forecast and no dates are

examined.

Replace

- Select this inbound rule and VISUAL, if it finds a match on the 3-field key, eliminates all

of the records for that forecast from VISUAL and import them instead from the .VDI file. As with

the Reject Duplicate inbound rule, VISUAL does not examine any dates. The only option that

addressed the required date field is the Update inbound rule.

Click

to commit these settings.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Creating RCA Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

RCA

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file.

Multiple file

- The multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. Available record

types for RCA are HDR, LIN, and SUB.

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing the Data Import Utility that the data in the

.VDI file varies in size. You also need to select a delimiter for the end of each record and the

character VISUAL should use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed

description of Delimited styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

Click

to commit these settings.

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Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Creating VPO Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

VPO

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file.

Multiple file

- The multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. Available record

types for VPO are HDR, LIN, and SUB.

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing the Data Import Utility that the data in the

.VDI file varies in size. You also need toselect a delimiter for the end of each record and the

character VISUAL should use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed

description of Delimited styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma, Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

Click

to commit these settings.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Creating WSA Layouts

From the Key/Version list box, select

WSA

and then enter a version for the layout in the adjacent

field.

Select a File Type, Single or Multiple.

Single file

- The single file type writes all records to one file.

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Multiple file

- The multiple file type writes each record type to a separate file. Available record

types for WSA are HDR, LIN, and SUB.

Select the appropriate file style from the File Style section.

The file style refers to the format of the data contained in the .VDI file. You can select:

Fixed

- This style indicates that the data in the .VDI file(s) will always occupy the same “fixed”

space for each field and record.

Delimited

- By selecting this option, you are informing the Data Import Utility that the data in the

.VDI file varies in size. You also need to select a delimiter for the end of each record and the

character to use to separate each field in the record. Please see the detailed description of

Delimited styles in the previous section.

For Record, select from

Blank

Newline

, and

Null (Fixed Length)

For Field, select from

Blank

Asterisk

Comma

Tab

, or

Null (Fixed Length)

as a delimiter.

Note:

If you are creating a Null (fixed length) layout (i.e. with each record contained on its own

line), choose these settings:

File Style:

Fixed

Record:

Newline

Field:

Null (Fixed Length)

Click

to commit these settings.

Begin to define a record layout. See the section “Defining Record Layouts” later in this chapter for

more information.

Defining Record Layouts

On the bottom half of the Generate Data Import Layouts window there are five tabs: Header Tables,

Header Special Details, Line Item Tables, Sub Line Item Tables, and Adt Line Item Tables.

Each tab represents a record type in the layout. Not all tabs are used in each layout. If a tab or record

type is not relevant to a key type, no tables appear when you select the tab.

Each tab also displays a list of default tables that contain the most appropriate fields for the selected

key. Usually, all of the fields you want to access are available by default. If not, you can “join”

additional tables to the ones displayed.

Select a tab to start defining a record layout.

Click the

Data

button to select data elements for the record type you are defining. (There is a

Data

button below each list of tables.)

The dialog box shows all of the available columns of the tables for that record type. The table

displays the table name (or view), the column or field name, the data type, the position in the .VDI

file record, the length of the field, the scale (number of decimal places) and whether the inbound

data may be null for this column.

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Select

View

File

, or

E-mail

and then click the

button to print, view, or send the data

elements you have selected thus far. For more information on sending reports, refer to the

“Concepts and Common Features” chapter.

Because this information is taken directly from the database catalog, the data fields must already

be defined in the schema. If you intend to import user-defined columns and/or tables, these

columns and tables must be added to the database prior to using the Generate Data Import

Layouts window.

See “Joining Tables” for more information

When you first define a new layout, the default tables appear. These tables are mandatory. You

can remove the columns from a layout, but the table itself is not removable.

If one or more data elements that you require is not displayed in the default tables, you can add

the tables that store those fields to the end of an existing table list. Any user-defined or custom

tables should have primary keys defined so that the join process can find the primary key

automatically.

If you join additional tables to a tab, the mandatory tables appear first in the table lists, followed by

each table you added. The columns appear alphabetically within each table.

To include a column as part of the .VDI layout, highlight the appropriate column and click on the

Select

button.

The x in the row header disappears and the position of the data element in the record appears in

the Pos column. This position is only accurate if the File Style of the layout is Fixed; VISUAL

updates the position any time you select or deselect an element.

The sequence in which the columns appear in the table window is the same sequence they will

appear in the .VDI file layouts for each record. This sequence is critical because the .VDI file(s)

will be created or read by an external application, most likely an EDI mapping tool. The use of an

external application needs to be designed around the .VDI layout.

Once you define the record layouts for each tab, click

You return to the Generate Data Import Layouts window.

Click

Save

The Data Import Utility import and export data is placed in files having predefined names. The only

user-defined portion of the file-naming is the directory in which they reside. Thus, when importing or

exporting is done, the program always looks for or creates the same files in a user-defined place.

To keep multiple versions of the files (i.e., archive each imported or exported file) then you must do

this outside of the Data Import mechanism.

.VDI files are named for their layout key target and layout version.

For multiple files format, there may be up to five files, for each tab used in the Generate Layout

window. Each file has a suffix indicating its contents:

ASN9999

.VDIHeader (HDR) records

ASN9999

.VDIHeader Special Detail (SDL) records

ASN9999

.VDILine Item (LIN) records

ASN9999

.VDISubline records (SUB) records

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ASN9999

.VDIAdditional Line Item records (ASL) records

Note:

9999 is the layout version.

Single file formats:

XXX9999.VDIContains HDR and LIN records

Note:

XXX is the layout key and 9999 is the layout version.

Joining Tables

If you require additional tables, you can add them to the end of the item list in the appropriate tab. Any

user-defined or custom tables should have primary keys defined so that the join process can find the

primary key automatically.

VISUAL sets up joins automatically for mandatory tables, but does not permit access to the join for a

mandatory table. You must define the joins for any non-mandatory tables that you add.

To join tables:

First select the tab to which to add the tables. From the table selection drop down box, select the

table to join, then click on the

Join

button.

The Join Clause dialog box appears.

You can only join a table that is relative to the one that already exists.

You must always select RECTYPE. It is fixed depending on the tab your are in (HDR, SDL, LIN,

SUB, ASL)

Select one of the primary key columns on the right table, then select the corresponding data

element on the left column.

For example, if the Part table is on the right, and its Primary Key, ID, is selected, you should find a

column containing the Part ID on the left, such as CUST_ORDER_LINE.PART_ID.

Click on the appropriate number button to number the column, then click

Set

The join clause must include all the fields that make up the primary key.

Click

The table is now joined.

The user-defined table is an advanced feature of the Data Import Utility. In most cases, you will

not need this feature.

Please be careful when selecting the join keys. An incorrect join can cause data inconsistencies

in your .VDI files.

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Associating Customers to Outbound Layouts

You need to associate each outbound layout with one or more VISUAL Customer IDs so that when

you run the layout through exchange, it knows whose data (invoices, ship notices) to export. To do

this:

If you haven’t done so already, save your outbound layout by clicking on

Save

Select

Associate

from the File menu or click the

Associate

button on the main toolbar.

The Associate Outbound Format dialog box appears.

Select which customers will use this layout when exporting data.

You can click on the

Select All

button to select all of the customers listed and the

Unselect All

button to deselect all of the customers you have selected.

Click on

Save

, and the click

The customers you selected are now associated with this layout. When this layout is selected in

the Data Import Exchange window, data for all customers who have been associated with this

layout will be exported.

Printing Length Discrepancies

Use the print length discrepancies function to print a report of the fields that have changed beginning

with version 6.2x. Rather than the Data Import Utility automatically changing the lengths, you can

choose to keep the older field lengths. This may help you keep some of your older EDI maps

functionally accurate.

From the Options menu, select

Print Length Discrepancies

or click the

Print Length

Discrepancies

button on the main toolbar.

Select an output for the length discrepancies report:

- VISUAL prints the report after you select standard print options.

View

- VISUAL displays the report on your screen before printing.

File

- VISUAL presents you with a Print To File dialog box in which you can specify where to place

the report.

E-mail

- Select this option to send the report in a Rich Text Format (.RTF) through electronic mail.

When you generate the report the system attaches the file to a Microsoft Outlook email. For more

information on addressing and sending the email, refer to your Microsoft Outlook user

documentation.

Click

to output the report to tone of the above four destinations.

Click

Apply to DB

to apply field changes to the layout.

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Flushing Temporary Cash Tables

For layout key CSH, you have the option of flushing temporary cash tables. You may be using maps

to receive cash receipts, which the Data Import Utility uses to populate temporary cash tables. Unless

you flush them out, those temporary cash tables remain in the database. Allowing those tables to

remain may result in inconsistent performance and unexpected error messages. It’s a good idea to

flush your temporary cash tables from time to time.

From the Options menu, select

Flush Temporary Cash Tables

or click the

Flush Temporary

Cash Tables

button on the main toolbar

A dialog box appears, asking you if you are sure.

Click

Yes

to continue.

VISUAL completes the flushing and returns a dialog box telling you the tables are now clean.

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Starting the Data Import Exchange Window

The Data Import Exchange window is the application that does the actual importing or exporting of

data. Data Import Exchange imports/exports the data to and from the .VDI files.

To start the Data Import Exchange window:

Select

VMDI Exchange

from the EDI menu.

Importing and Exporting Data In the Data Import Exchange

Window

Use the Data Import Exchange window to import or export data to and from the VISUAL database.

If VISUAL encounters closed or cancelled orders during the import process, the import utility adds the

order using the next available number and notifies you that it found a duplicate. You can view the

details of the transaction by viewing the log.

In the Key/Version fields, specify which key (ACK, ASN, CPO, CSH, INV, PLN, RCA, VPO, or

WSA) and layout version number to use (defined using VMDIGEN.EXE).

When you specify the key and version, VISUAL selects the appropriate radio button from the

Direction section. The data is either incoming or outgoing. VISUAL also determines the file type,

the inbound or outbound rule, and the file style for the data (previously defined using

VMDIGEN.EXE).

Note:

If you select CPO, you can optionally select the

Close Partial Shipped Schedules

, and

Include Today in Proration

check boxes. You cannot manually override the

Delete Unshipped

Lines

Delete Unshipped Schedules

options using VMDIXCHG.EXE. You must make

changes using VMDIGEN.EXE.

If you do not want to delete lines shipped at zero quantity, add SuppressZeroLine to the

[Shipping] section of Preference Maintenance and specify a value of N.

If you select PLN, you can optionally change the Include Today in Proration option.

In the Directory field, specify the target directory for the .VDI file.

For an inbound file, this is the location in which VISUAL will find the .VDI file; for an outbound file,

this is the location in which VISUAL will create the .VDI file(s). VISUAL exchanges each key and

version separately.

VISUAL updates the run date for the selected .VDI layout after each exchange; it appears in the

Run Date field. Normally, data is only exported once. The Data Import Exchange window only

exports data (A/R Invoices and ASN’s) with a date equal to or later than the Run date of the .VDI

layout. You can enter an earlier date/time stamp to re-export data, but use caution. Using an

earlier run date will resend all data again from the specified date and later, which could mean

resending duplicates.

Click on the

Exchange

button on the main toolbar or select

Exchange

from the File menu.

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If there are any critical errors while VISUAL is importing data, a message box that describes the

error appears. VISUAL also generates a log file that contains more information about critical

errors and information about less critical errors.

The log file lists each record that has an error and the error message; and shows each column

with the data that VMDIXCHG was trying to write. The log file is located in the same user

specified directory and has the same name as the .VDI file with a .log extension.

You should check the log file after each exchange.

Examining Log Files After Importing and Exporting

Four different logs are generated by VMDIXCHG for various keys.

Error Logs

This log is generated when importing CPO, CSH, and PLN documents and is very useful when

debugging initial import problems. This log will only contain errors (CPO documents rejected due to

match criteria will not appear in this log). The log is named for the key and layout (for example, the

error log for CPO layout 0001 would be called CPO0001.log). The log is overwritten each time this

layout is run.

An example log follows.

Error Log

</LogFileType>

5/1/00 9:39:21:000000 AM

</LogFileDate>

CPO

</LayoutKey>

0001

</LayoutVersion>

0001

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</Version>

</LogFileHeader>

====================================

Data error encountered in column

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SHIP_TO_ADDR_NO during import

LCUSTOMER_ORDER.ID=GE90C12064001

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CUSTOMER_ID=20000818

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CUSTOMER_PO_REF=000000004200000

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SHIP_TO_ADDR_NO=?

CUSTOMER_ORDER.ORDER_DATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.DESIRED_SHIP_DATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.STATUS=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.EDI_FLAG=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.ENTITY_ID=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.BACK_ORDER=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.POSTING_CANDIDATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.MARKED_FOR_PURGE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SELL_RATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.BUY_RATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_HONORIFIC=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_FIRST_NAME=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_INITIAL=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_LAST_NAME=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_SALUTATION=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_PHONE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_FAX=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_POSITION=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.FREE_ON_BOARD=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SHIP_VIA=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SALESREP_ID=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERRITORY=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_NET_TYPE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_NET_DAYS=

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CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_NET_DATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_TYPE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_DAYS=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_DATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_PERCENT=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DESCRIPTION=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.DISCOUNT_CODE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SALES_TAX_GROUP_ID=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.FREIGHT_TERMS=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CURRENCY_ID=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_MOBILE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_EMAIL=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.EDI_BLANKET_FLAG=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.EXCH_RATE_FIXED=

</VMDIErrorLog3>

====================================

Successful Transactions (Good) Logs

This log is generated when importing CPO, CSH, and PLN documents and lists every record

imported for the run. This log will not contain errors (they are in the error log). The log is named for the

key and layout (for example, the good log for CPO layout 0001 would be called CPO0001G.log). The

log is overwritten each time this layout is run.

An example log follows:

Successful Transactions Log

</LogFileType>

5/1/00 9:39:21:000000 AM

</LogFileDate>

CPO

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</LayoutKey>

0001

</LayoutVersion>

0001

</Version>

</LogFileHeader>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following record was updated.

Record number: 1

CUSTOMER_ORDER.ID=R 0702210

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CUSTOMER_ID=ABLMAN

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CUSTOMER_PO_REF=UMWX73801

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SHIP_TO_ADDR_NO=1

CUSTOMER_ORDER.FREE_ON_BOARD=NASHUA

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SHIP_VIA=FEDEX

CUSTOMER_ORDER.ORDER_DATE=12/15/00 12:00:00:000000 AM

CUSTOMER_ORDER.DESIRED_SHIP_DATE=12/15/00 12:00:00:000000 AM

CUSTOMER_ORDER.STATUS=R

CUSTOMER_ORDER.EDI_FLAG=Y

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SHIPTO_ID=CPO1

CUSTOMER_ORDER.ENTITY_ID=MMC

CUSTOMER_ORDER.BACK_ORDER=N

CUSTOMER_ORDER.POSTING_CANDIDATE=N

CUSTOMER_ORDER.MARKED_FOR_PURGE=N

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SELL_RATE=1.0

CUSTOMER_ORDER.BUY_RATE=1.0

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_HONORIFIC=Mr.

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_FIRST_NAME=David

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_INITIAL=J.

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_LAST_NAME=Brown

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CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_SALUTATION=Dear Mr. Brown:

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_PHONE=[617] 444-7000

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_FAX=[617] 444-7011

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_POSITION=General Manager

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SALESREP_ID=MARK

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERRITORY=NEW ENGLAND

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_NET_TYPE=A

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_NET_DAYS=30

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_NET_DATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_TYPE=A

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_DAYS=10

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_DATE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DISC_PERCENT=2.0

CUSTOMER_ORDER.TERMS_DESCRIPTION=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.DISCOUNT_CODE=WHOLESALE

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SALES_TAX_GROUP_ID=MA

CUSTOMER_ORDER.FREIGHT_TERMS=P

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CURRENCY_ID=(USD) $

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_MOBILE=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.CONTACT_EMAIL=

CUSTOMER_ORDER.EDI_BLANKET_FLAG=N

CUSTOMER_ORDER.EXCH_RATE_FIXED=N

CUSTOMER_ORDER.SEND_ACK=Y

</VMDIGoodLog>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following record was updated.

Record number: 1

CUST_ORDER_BINARY.BITS=R 0701743 00000701743 NEW CRIB #: 40CR93

CUST_ORDER_BINARY.BITS_LENGTH=41

</VMDIGoodLog>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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The following record was updated.

Record number: 1

Cust Order Line No 1 for Cust Order ID R 0702210 was updated.

CUST_ORDER_LINE.LINE_NO=1

CUST_ORDER_LINE.PART_ID=0038860967

CUST_ORDER_LINE.UNIT_PRICE=2.5

CUST_ORDER_LINE.USER_ORDER_QTY=190.0

CUST_ORDER_LINE.SELLING_UM=10X10_SHT

CUST_ORDER_LINE.DESIRED_SHIP_DATE=11/22/99 12:00:00:000000 AM

CUST_ORDER_LINE.MISC_REFERENCE=0038860967

CUST_ORDER_LINE.SHIPTO_ID=

CUST_ORDER_LINE.LINE_STATUS=A

CUST_ORDER_LINE.ORDER_QTY=190.0

CUST_ORDER_LINE.PRODUCT_CODE=

CUST_ORDER_LINE.COMMODITY_CODE=STEEL

CUST_ORDER_LINE.TRADE_DISC_PERCENT=15.0

CUST_ORDER_LINE.GL_REVENUE_ACCT_ID=

CUST_ORDER_LINE.COMMISSION_PCT=15.0

CUST_ORDER_LINE.ACK_ID=

CUST_ORDER_LINE.SEND_ACK=

</VMDIGoodLog>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following record was updated.

Record number: 1

CUST_LINE_BINARY.BITS=D

CUST_LINE_BINARY.BITS_LENGTH=2

</VMDIGoodLog>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Insert/Update Logs

This log is generated when importing CPO, CSH, and PLN documents and lists every imported or

updated document from the run. This log will not contain errors (they are in the error log). The log also

shows any records deleted by the user having marked either the “Delete unshipped lines” or “Delete

unshipped schedules” check boxes. The log is named for the key and layout (for example, the insert/

update log for CPO layout 0555 would be called CPO0555IN.log). The log is overwritten each time

this layout is run.

An example log follows.

Insert Update Log

</LogFileType>

4/12/00 2:30:18:000000 PM

</LogFileDate>

CPO

</LayoutKey>

0555

</LayoutVersion>

0555

</Version>

</LogFileHeader>

====================================

Customer Order Z05550010 inserted

</VMDIInsertLog>

====================================

Customer Order Z05550011 inserted

</VMDIInsertLog>

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====================================

Customer Order Z05550012 inserted

</VMDIInsertLog>

====================================

Customer Order Z05550013 inserted

</VMDIInsertLog>

====================================

Customer Order Z05550014 inserted

</VMDIInsertLog>

</LogFile>

Autogenerate Logs

VMDI generates this log when importing CPO documents with the Autogenerate feature. This log is a

copy of the actual CPO VDI file, except the Autogenerate Tokens have been replaced with the actual

customer order Ids created in the system. The log is named CPO and the layout (for example, the

Autogenerate log for CPO layout 0025 would be called CPO0025.AUTO). The log is overwritten each

time this layout is run. An example VDI file and log are shown below. Notice how the token AUTO is

replaced with the actual customer order ID and that the number is incremented for second order

(02006 for first order and 02007 for second):

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Setting Session ID Preferences

You can establish exchange log file naming preferences by using the Session ID option.

From the Options menu, select

Session ID

, or click the

Session ID

button on the main toolbar.

The Session ID Settings dialog box appears.

Select the

Use Session ID

check box to specify a Session ID for the Data Import Utility exchange

logs.

The Next Session and Prefix data fields are now active.

Enter the number for the next session log. VISUAL automatically increments the number as you

conduct exchanges. To use a different number, enter it in the data field.

Enter a suffix if you want the exchange log file to have a special ending. For example, a next

session log of 6 and a suffix or VE, produces a log file (Key)6VM.log.

Select the

prefix KEY

check box to attach the Key/Version (one of seven) of the exchange to the

front of the log file.

Selecting this makes the Prefix data field unavailable. For example, setting preferences to a next

session log of 7, a suffix of VE, and a KEY of ACK, leads to VISUAL producing the log

ACK7VM.log.

Running the Data Interchange Utility in Command Line

Mode

There are two modes of operation for VMDIXCHG: Standard and Command Line mode. Standard

mode requires input from the user; Command line mode does not. If VMDIXCHG finds a valid

command line, it executes in command line mode. Command line mode allows you to specify the run

options currently available through the main screen.

When you run the program in command line mode, you use a cumulative log file, VMDIXCHG.LOG.

Each time you execute the program, VMDIXCHG appends time stamped status information to the

end of the file.

The VMDIXCHG.LOG file resides in the same directory as all other *.VDI and *.LOG files. When you

run the program in batch mode, you can exchange multiple types of data (i.e. PLN, VPO, etc.) in the

same run.

VMDIXCHG.APP

Command Line:

The command line must conform to the this format:

The first value is always the EXE name, VMDIXCHG.

The next three values are the database connection strings. The data base connection strings follow

standard VISUAL format:

-D <database name>

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-U <User ID>

-P <password>

All command line arguments up to this point are mandatory. The remaining arguments are optional. If

you do not specify a particular argument, VMDIXCHG applies a default value where applicable.

Exchange File Path:

-F <file path>

If you omit the –F argument, VMDIXCHG uses the file path specified in the DataFilePath row in the

EDI EXCHANGE section of Preferences Maintenance. You should only use the –F option if you need

to temporarily override the default directory path.

Next, list the types of values to exchange. You may list more than one type. Keep in mind that you

must separate additional values with a space.

The valid types are:

• ACK

• ASN

• CPO

• CSH

• INV

• PLN

• RCA

• VPO

• WSA

You must specify at least one valid data type, each of which must have a 4 digit unique identifier after

it. The data type / numeric identifier combination equates to the KEY and VERSION columns of the

VMDI_LAYOUT table.

Inbound Rule:

VMDIGEN establishes the inbound rule. You cannot change it from within VMDIXCHG. Therefore,

you must specify inbound types by their KEY/VERSION (i.e. CPO8888).

Note:

Inbound rule parameters are only applicable for inbound types such as CPO, CSH, and PLN.

Outbound Rule:

The next argument specifies whether you want VMDIXCHG to either append the outbound data to

existing output files, or create a new file each time. Specify –A to append the file, or -O to overlay the

file. If you omit this argument, the default is set to overlay the file.

Note:

Outbound rule parameters are only applicable for outbound types such as ACK, ASN, INV,

RCA, VPO, and WSA.

This example illustrates a command line that executes VMDIXCHG connected to database

VMFGDEMO as user MIKE and password OCEAN, and executes the exchanges for CPO0000,

INV9999 and ASN3333. VMDIXCHG overrides the EDI file directory for this run with

C:\Infor\EDI\TEMP. In addition, the INV output file is overlaid and the ASN output file is appended

onto it.

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VMDIXCHG –D VMFGDEMO –U MIKE –P OCEAN –F C:\Infor\EDI\TEMP CPO0000 INV9999 –O

ASN333 -A

Because the program is running without user intervention, you cannot change the run date

parameter. The run “as of date” for each data type that you are exchanging is from the

LAST_RUN_DATE column of the VMDI_LAYOUT table for each layout key.

VMDIXCHG.LOG

This example illustrates the log file created when you run the program in batch mode:

8/21/02 11:07:13: ********** Session Started **********

8/21/02 11:07:13: Begin program execution in command line mode. ExtCommandLine=-DVMFG52 -

USYSADM -PSYSADM PLN0000

8/21/02 11:34:20: Import of PLN0000 data to c:\Infor\bak\edi\pln0000.vdi has begun

8/21/02 11:34:23: 60 PLN records imported

8/21/02 11:34:24: ————— Session Ended —————

Integration Requirements

This section relates to the integration of EDI data into and out of the VISUAL database. For Harbinger

and Sterling Commerce, you may choose to have Infor Global Solutions design and create your

integration maps or you may choose to develop your own maps. For other EDI translators, you need

to develop any necessary “maps” to and from that software in the format that the Data Interchange

module produces and reads.

These sections describe the modules and EDI transactions that can currently be integrated.

Additional EDI transactions are handled directly through the EDI translation software in standalone

mode.

Customer Order Information (Inbound)

This is typically the most complex transaction to integrate because of the vast differences in how you

and your trading partners may use the transaction data.

You need to consider several factors:

• Which inbound transaction(s) contain customer order information? (850, 860, 830, 862, etc.)

• Is the trading partner’s VISUAL Customer ID present in the EDI data?

• Is there a Ship to location that applies to the entire order or does each line item have a separate

Ship to location?

• Are the VISUAL part numbers present in the EDI data?

• Do you want to accept the pricing as it comes in should VISUAL override it?

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EDI Transaction 850 - Purchase Order

The purchase order is the most widely used commercial EDI transaction. While the information

contained in a purchase order may vary in content and format from company to company, there are

pieces of information that are common to every PO:

• Order number and date

• Buyer’s Company ID

• Ship-to location

• Requested delivery date

• One of more line items containing quantity ordered, unit of measure, unit price, and a part number

or description

Other transactions may contain customer order information, such as the PO Change (860) or Material

Release (830). This information can also be brought into VISUAL through integration.

Planning Information (Inbound)

This is typically the simplest transaction to implement. When planning information is imported, the

CUSTOMER_ FORECAST table is populated in VISUAL database. These records contain a

CUSTOMER ID, FORECAST ID, FORECAST DATE, PART NUMBER, and QUANTITY.

EDI Transaction 830 - Planning Schedule

The planning schedule is most typically used to transfer forecasting/material release information. You

can use this transaction in a variety of ways, such as:

• a simple forecast

• a forecast with the buyer’s authorization for the seller to commit to resources, such as labor or

material

• an order release mechanism, containing such elements as resource authorizations, period-to-

date cumulative quantities, and specific ship/delivery patterns. The order release forecast may

also contain all data related to purchase orders, eliminating the need for discrete generation of

purchase orders.

For inbound planning and customer order information, successful integration often depends on

having raw EDI data (sample or production) from the trading partner. This data is necessary in order

to determine the absolute segment and element location of each required piece of data.

The EDI requirements or “mappings” that a trading partner are sometimes inaccurate or outdated.

Because the integration maps are dependent on the format of the data, changes or discrepancies

may cause implementation delays. This is why sample data is so critical to a smooth and timely

integration process. Accurate data not only eliminates the need for modifications to the maps, but is

also essential for testing the maps prior to delivery to the customer.

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Shipping Information (Outbound)

Shipping data is extracted from VISUAL to one or more fixed length files. The files contain the BOL

information, the order or packlist information, and the line item information for each order. The details

of each file are determined by the requirements of your trading partner.

EDI Transaction 856 - Advance Shipment Notice

The ship notice lists the contents of a shipment and its configuration within the shipment container at

various levels of detail. ASN’s are used extensively in the retail and automotive industries, where

Just-In-Time (JIT) and Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) are an integral part of the management

philosophy.

A typical ASN has this information:

• ASN number and date

• Shipment identification number (SID)

• Date and time of the shipment

• Bill of lading (BOL) number

• Number of packages

• Total shipment weight

• Product number and quantity of each item shipped (SKU)

Invoice Information (Outbound)

Invoice data is extracted from VISUAL to one or more fixed length files. The files contain the Invoice

header information, the line item information, and (when applicable) subline item information. The

details of each file are determined by the requirements of your trading partner.

EDI Transaction 810 - Invoice

The invoice is the second most widely used EDI transaction set. It is a natural extension of the

purchase order and can generally be implemented at the same time. In most cases, an invoice simply

repeats much of the information contained in the purchase order, while adding invoice related

information such as:

• Invoice number and date

• Quantity shipped and invoiced amount for each item

• Total invoice amount

• Payment terms

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A Glossary of EDI Terms

Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12)

- The committee that defines the structure of EDI

Transaction Sets in the United States.

Data Element

- The smallest unit of information in the standard, representing a single piece of

information. According to the standards, each data element is assigned a reference number, a name,

description, data type and the min/max length.

EDI

- Electronic Data Interchange. The exchange of commonly used business transactions in a

formal, structured manner.

EDIFACT

- An EDI Standard developed in Europe and typically used outside the United States.

Forms Overlays

- Forms that are used in STX for Windows to perform data entry or printing of EDI

data in a “user-friendly” format.

Functional Group

- As part of an Interchange, a Functional Group consists of a GS Header

Segment, one or more Transaction Sets of the same type, and a GE Trailer Segment.

Interchange

- A group of one or more types of documents that are bound for transmission to a single

trading partner.

Log-ons

- A communications script that enables the STX software to connect to a VAN, Internet, or

directly to a TP (if available) in order to transfer and receive EDI documents.

Maps or File Overlays

- Maps link the STX software to the Data Import Utility module that connects

to the VISUAL database. In order to integrate STX and VISUAL, one map must be created for each

trading partner/transaction set combination.

Integration

- The “sharing” of data between applications through application files to eliminate the

need for repetitive data-entry and reduce errors.

Segment

- A segment consists of a segment identifier, one or more related data elements in a

defined sequence, and a segment terminator.

Trading Partner

- Someone with whom you trade electronic documents.

Transaction Set

- An electronic document whose format is defined by ASC X12. A Transaction Set

consists of an ST Header Segment, one or more data segments in a specific order, and an SE Trailer

Segment. Each set is assigned a numeric identifier. (e.g. 810 = an invoice)

Value Added Network (VAN)

- An “electronic post office” whose responsibilities include providing a

“mailbox” to which your partners send your documents, and to collect and distribute the documents

that you send.

ANSI X12 EDI Transaction Sets

The Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) and UN/EDIFACT have defined several hundred

EDI transaction sets. Below is a comprehensive list of the ANSI/X12 Transaction Sets.

104 - Air Shipment Information

110 - Air Freight Details and Invoice

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125 - Multilevel Railcar Load Details

126 - Vehicle Application Advice

127 - Vehicle Baying Order

128 - Dealer Information

129 - Vehicle Carrier Rate Update

130 - Student Educational Record (Transcript)

131 - Student Educational Record (Transcript) Acknowledgment

135 - Student Loan Application

139 - Student Loan Guarantee Result

140 - Product Registration

141 - Product Service Claim Response

142 - Product Service Claim

143 - Product Service Notification

144 - Student Loan Transfer and Status Verification

146 - Request for Student Educational Record (Transcript)

147 - Response to Request for Student Educational Record (Transcript)

148 - Report of Injury or Illness

151 - Electronic Filing of Tax Return Data Acknowledgment

152 - Statistical Government Information

154 - Uniform Commercial Code Filing

161 - Train Sheet

170 - Revenue Receipts Statement

180 - Return Merchandise Authorization and Notification

186 - Laboratory Reporting

190 - Student Enrollment Verification

196 - Contractor Cost Data Reporting

204 - Motor Carrier Shipment Information

210 - Motor Carrier Freight Details and Invoice

213 - Motor Carrier Shipment Status Inquiry

214 - Transportation Carrier Shipment Status Message

217 - Motor Carrier Loading and Route Guide

218 - Motor Carrier Tariff Information

250 - Purchase Order Shipment Management Document

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251 - Pricing Support

260 - Application for Mortgage Insurance Benefits

263 - Residential Mortgage Insurance Application Response

264 - Mortgage Loan Default Status

270 - Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Inquiry

271 - Health Care Eligibility/Benefit Information

272 - Property and Casualty Loss Notification

276 - Health Care Claim Status Request

277 - Health Care Claim Status Notification

290 - Cooperative Advertising Agreements

300 - Reservation (Booking Request) (Ocean)

301 - Confirmation (Ocean)

303 - Booking Cancellation (Ocean)

304 - Shipping Instructions

309 - U.S. Customs Manifest

310 - Freight Receipt and Invoice (Ocean)

311 - Canadian Customs Information

312 - Arrival Notice (Ocean)

313 - Shipment Status Inquiry (Ocean)

315 - Status Details (Ocean)

317 - Delivery/Pickup Order

319 - Terminal Information

322 - Terminal Operations Activity (Ocean)

323 - Vessel Schedule and Itinerary (Ocean)

324 - Vessel Stow Plan (Ocean)

325 - Consolidation of Goods in Container

326 - Consignment Summary List

350 - U.S. Customs Release Information

352 - U.S. Customs Carrier General Order Status

353 - U.S. Customs Events Advisory Details

354 - U.S. Customs Automated Manifest Archive Status

355 - U.S. Customs Manifest Acceptance/Rejection

356 - Permit To Transfer Request

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361 - Carrier Interchange Agreement (Ocean)

404 - Rail Carrier Shipment Information

410 - Rail Carrier Freight Details and Invoice

414 - Rail Carrier Settlements

417 - Rail Carrier Waybill Interchange

418 - Rail Advance Interchange Consist

419 - Advance Car Disposition

420 - Car Handling Information

421 - Estimated Time of Arrival and Car Scheduling

422 - Shipper’s Car Order

425 - Rail Waybill Request

426 - Rail Revenue Waybill

429 - Railroad Retirement Activity

431 - Railroad Station Master File

440 - Shipment Weights

466 - Rate Request

468 - Rate Docket Journal Log

485 - Ratemaking Action

490 - Rate Group Definition

492 - Miscellaneous Rates

494 - Scale Rate Table

511 - Requisition

517 - Material Obligation Validation

527 - Material Due-In and Receipt

536 - Logistics Reassignment

561 - Contract Abstract

567 - Contract Completion Status

568 - Contract Payment Management Report

601 - Shipper’s Export Declaration

602 - Transportation Services Tender

622 - Intermodal Ramp Activity

805 - Contract Pricing Proposal

806 - Project Schedule Reporting

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810 - Invoice

811 - Consolidated Service Invoice/Statement

812 - Credit/Debit Adjustment

813 - Electronic Filing of Tax Return Data

815 - Cryptographic Service Message

816 - Organizational Relationships

818 - Commission Sales Report

819 - Operating Expense Statement

820 - Payment Order/Remittance Advice

821 - Financial Information Reporting

822 - Customer Account Analysis

823 - Lockbox

824 - Application Advice

826 - Tax Information Reporting

827 - Financial Return Notice

828 - Debit Authorization

829 - Payment Cancellation Request

830 - Planning Schedule with Release Capability

831 - Application Control Totals

832 - Price/Sales Catalog

833 - Residential Mortgage Credit Report Order

834 - Benefit Enrollment and Maintenance

835 - Health Care Claim Payment/Advice

836 - Contract Award

837 - Health Care Claim

838 - Trading Partner Profile

839 - Project Cost Reporting

840 - Request for Quotation

841 - Specifications/Technical Information

842 - Nonconformance Report

843 - Response to Request for Quotation

844 - Product Transfer Account Adjustment

845 - Price Authorization Acknowledgment/Status

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846 - Inventory Inquiry/Advice

847 - Material Claim

848 - Material Safety Data Sheet

849 - Response to Product Transfer Account Adjustment

850 - Purchase Order

851 - Asset Schedule

852 - Product Activity Data

853 - Routing and Carrier Instruction

854 - Shipment Delivery Discrepancy Information

855 - Purchase Order Acknowledgment

856 - Ship Notice/Manifest

857 - Shipment and Billing Notice

858 - Shipment Information

859 - Freight Invoice

860 - Purchase Order Change Request - Buyer Initiated

861 - Receiving Advice/Acceptance Certificate

862 - Shipping Schedule

863 - Report of Test Results

864 - Text Message

865 - Purchase Order Change Acknowledgment/Request - Seller Initiated

866 - Production Sequence

867 - Product Transfer and Resale Report

868 - Electronic Form Structure

869 - Order Status Inquiry

870 - Order Status Report

872 - Residential Mortgage Insurance Application

875 - Grocery Products Purchase Order

876 - Grocery Products Purchase Order Change

878 - Product Authorization/Deauthorization

879 - Price Change

880 - Grocery Products Invoice

882 - Direct Store Delivery Summary Information

888 - Item Maintenance

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889 - Promotion Announcement

893 - Item Information Request

894 - Delivery/Return Base Record

895 - Delivery/Return Acknowledgment or Adjustment

896 - Product Dimension Maintenance

920 - Loss or Damage Claim - General Commodities

924 - Loss or Damage Claim - Motor Vehicle

925 - Claim Tracer

926 - Claim Status Report and Tracer Reply

928 - Automotive Inspection Detail

940 - Warehouse Shipping Order

943 - Warehouse Stock Transfer Shipment Advice

944 - Warehouse Stock Transfer Receipt Advice

945 - Warehouse Shipping Advice

947 - Warehouse Inventory Adjustment Advice

980 - Functional Group Totals

990 - Response to a Load Tender

996 - File Transfer

997 - Functional Acknowledgment

998 - Set Cancellation EDI Requirements Worksheet

Tips for Successful Importing and Exporting

Use these tips and hints when importing or exporting EDI information.

Customer Orders (CPO)

The EDI Release Flag, located under the EDI tab in the Customer Order Entry window, is key to the

successful export of invoices (INV) and Advance Ship Notices (ASN). You can activate the flag using

several methods:

You can manually mark the flag on the customer order at some point prior to exporting the ASN or

INV.

You can use Customer Maintenance (under the E-Commerce tab) to specify the customer as an EDI

Trading Partner. Doing this ensures that all future orders will have the EDI flag selected.

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You can establish your CPO import file so the EDI Release Flag field is “Y” for all incoming orders.

Advance Ship Notices (ASN)

Before you can export ship notices using the Data Import Utility, the EDI Release Flag must be set for

customer orders. The EDI Release check box is located in the EDI tab of the Customer Order Entry

window. You can select the check box any time prior to exporting data using VMDIXCHG. After you

have entered the customer orders in VISUAL, ship them using Shipping Entry.

After Shipping the customer order and creating packlists, select

Print Bill of Lading

from the

Shipping Entry File menu to create a BOL. Saving the Bill of Lading prompts VISUAL to generate a

BOL number. At this point, you can launch an ASN layout in VMDIXCHG for this customer and you

should be able to successfully export the ASN document. Failure to either mark the customer order’s

EDI Release flag in Customer Order Entry or create a BOL in Shipping Entry, prevents the ASN

documents from exporting.

Note:

VMDIXCHG ignores any shipping notices you may create from orders that don’t have the EDI

Release flag set. You can set the flag after you have shipped the orders and VMDIXCHG will then

examine the documents runtime, assuming the date/time and Association requirements are also

correct.

For example, if you are sending out Ship Notices to Able Manufacturing, VMDIXCHG searches for

documents with a Customer ID of ABLMAN, the EDI Release Flag set, have a BOL, and meet the

date/time requirement.

Launch VMDIXCHG for the proper layout (for example, ASN0012 for Able Manufacturing 856

documents) and verify the date on which to start exporting data. For example, if today is 5/12/99 and

you enter 5/10/99 on the Run Date line, then VMDIXCHG will export all valid documents from 5/10

through today. Valid documents are those that have the EDI Release Flag set on them and for which

you have created BOLs.

Invoices (INV)

Before you can export ship notices using the Data Import Utility, the EDI Release Flag must be set for

customer orders. The EDI Release checkbox is located in the EDI tab of the Customer Order Entry

window. You can select the checkbox any time prior to exporting data using VMDIXCHG. After you

have entered the customer orders in VISUAL, ship them using Shipping Entry, and invoice them

using the Invoice Forms option available from the Reports menu. At this point, the orders have been

entered, shipped, and invoiced in VISUAL. Now you need to export the invoices using VMDIXCHG.

Note:

VMDIXCHG ignores any shipping notices you may create from orders that don’t have the EDI

Release flag set. You can set the flag after you have shipped the orders and VMDIXCHG will then

examine the documents runtime, assuming the date/time and Association requirements are also

correct.

For example, if you are sending out Invoices to Able Manufacturing, VMDIXCHG searches for

documents with a Customer ID of ABLMAN with the EDI Release Flag set, that you have shipped

using Shipping Entry, invoiced using Invoice Forms, and meet the date/time requirement (see below).

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Launch VMDIXCHG for the proper layout (for example, INV0012 for Able Manufacturing 810

documents) and verify the date on which to start exporting data. For example, if today is 5/12/02 and

you enter 5/10/02 on the Run Date line, then VMDIXCHG will export all valid documents from 5/10

through today. Valid documents are those that have the EDI Release Flag set on them, and you have

shipped using Shipping Entry, and invoiced using Invoice Forms.

Forecasts (PLN)

Follow this procedure to transfer customer forecast (planned data) information that you have imported

from an EDI 830 transaction to the Master Production Schedule as a part forecast.

From the main menu, select

Tools

, then

Material Planning Window

The Material Planning Window appears.

From the File menu, select

Master Production Schedule

Click

Customer Forecasts

The Transfer Customer Forecasts to Part Forecasts dialog box appears.

Select the

Import to Both

option button.

Enter a Forecast ID and select the

Purge prior data

and

Bucketless import

check boxes.

Results appear in the Master Production Schedule. Enter the Part ID to view.

To edit the forecast, either make revisions to the Master Production Schedule or click the

Edit

Customer Forecasts

button at the bottom of the dialog box and do the editing there.

For more information on customer forecasts, refer to the “Material Planning Window” chapter.

Special Notes

If you import an EDI 830 document into VISUAL as a customer forecast, VISUAL Quality only imports

the 8 fields on the Customer Forecast screen.

The Customer Forecasts screen shows the 8 fields VISUAL Quality imports. They are

Part ID or Customer Part IDCustomer ID

Forecast IDRequired Date (s)

Required Quantity(s)PO Reference

Forecast DateWarehouse ID

For example, you can create the Forecast ID in the EDI map to be a combination of PO# and Shipto

DUNS # (N104). The only two EDI segments VISUAL examines when creating a customer forecast

are the LIN and FST.

One approach that works well involves making the Forecast ID the same as the Part ID. By using the

Part ID as the Forecast ID, anytime a date or quantity changes for that part, VISUAL updates the

forecast rather than adding to it. The only time VISUAL adds to the forecast is when the trading

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partner for that part sends a new date. In this map example, the customer originally wanted to use a

combination of the EDI 830 Run Date and the Customer ID. However, if the trading partner had

changed quantities for previously received dates, they would not send the same run date again. The

run date is essentially the date the trading partner sent the EDI 830. Therefore, the entire forecast for

that part - and all of the dates included in it - would be inserted into the Customer Forecast table. As a

result, each time they sent an 830, VISUAL adds it.

One disadvantage of using the Part ID as the Forecast ID is that if the client decides to use reject

duplicates (with the Forecast ID set up as above), then anytime you received another line item for the

same part and Customer ID, VISUAL would reject the line’s data.

When you run VMDIXCHG on a PLN VDI file, VISUAL enters the data into the Customer_Forecast

table. In order to view the forecast data from the Edit Customer Forecasts screen you must first

Transfer Customer Forecasts to Part Forecasts. To do that, select the

Import to Both

option button

(to import the customer forecast to the forecast and master schedule tables), select the

Purge Prior

and the

Bucket-less Import

check boxes, enter a Forecast ID (appears on the Master Schedule

screen), enter EDI-FORECASTS, and click

Begin

The Forecast ID displaying on the Master Schedule you imported using the Transfer feature (above)

is not the same Forecast ID you imported using the Data Import Utility (shows on the Customer

Forecast screen). For example, the Forecast ID you entered on the transfer screen is EDI-

FORECASTS, but the actual forecast IDs imported from the Customer_Forecast table might be

named EDITESTPO1, EDITESTPO2, and EDITESTPO3.

Purging Prior: A Few Hints

Choose the same ID every time you perform a transfer (EDI-FORECASTS, for example). When you

perform the transfer, VISUAL updates the new Customer_Forecast data. For example, if the qty for 5/

1/02 for forecast ID EDITESTPO1 is 104 and it is actually 50 in the new data, VISUAL changes it to

50 when you perform the transfer and the master schedule will change to show the proper amounts. If

you entered a new Forecast ID (EDI-FORECASTS2, for example) when running the transfer, then

VISUAL imports all the contents of the customer_forecast table to the master schedule table.

Essentially, the same data would appear twice in the master schedule (once for the EDI-

FORECASTS and once for EDI-FORECASTS2).

Adding a Trading Partner Name to an ASN (EDI 856)

The Trading Partner ID MUST be in the First Record of the First data file (BOL table of HDR ). To do

that, follow the steps below.

Caution:

If you do not perform these steps in the order listed, your joins may be inaccurate

and VISUAL could consequently export incorrect data. For example, when

performing joins in the Additional Line Item file of an ASN, you could mistakenly

export data for ALL packlists in the system if you perform the steps out of order or

miss some.

Starting the Data Import Exchange Window

11 – 48

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

From your Windows Start menu, select

Run

Type

SQLTALK.

SQLTalk Opens.

Type

Connect VMFGEDI; <CTRL+ENTER at end of each line>

Type

Create View View_Shipper As Select * From Shipper;

Type Create View View_Cust_Order As Select * From Customer_Order;

Type Create View View_Customer As Select * From Customer;

Type GRANT ALL ON VIEW_SHIPPER TO PUBLIC;

Type CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM VIEW_SHIPPER FOR SYSADM.VIEW_SHIPPER;

Type GRANT ALL ON VIEW_CUST_ORDER TO PUBLIC;

Type CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM VIEW_CUST_ORDER FOR SYSADM.VIEW_CUST_ORDER;

Type GRANT ALL ON VIEW_CUSTOMER TO PUBLIC;

Type CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM VIEW_CUSTOMER FOR SYSADM.VIEW_CUSTOMER;

Type Commit;

Launch VMDIGEN

Create a new layout.

Choose fields from default tables listed and save the layout

Add the View_Shipper table, View_Cust_Order and then the View_Customer table.

Choose fields from the three new tables.

Join the BOL table to the View_Shipper table via the BOL ID field.

Join the View_Shipper to the View_Cust_Order table by linking the Cust_Order_ID field in the

View_Shipper table to the ID field in the View_Cust_Order table.

Join the View_Customer_Order to the View_cust table by linking the Customer_ID field in the

View_Cust_Order table to the ID field in the View_Customer Table.

Save the layout.

Add additional tables as necessary and repeat steps 16-21 above.

Adding a Customer as an EDI Customer

This procedure is a shortened version of what appears in the Customer Maintenance chapter. For

more information, refer to the “Customer Maintenance” chapter.

From the Sales menu, select

Customer Maintenance

The Customer Maintenance window appears.

Call up the appropriate customer.

Starting the Data Import Exchange Window

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

11 – 49

Click the

E-Commerce

tab.

Select the

EDI Trading Partner

checkbox.

Click the

Save

button to commit the setting.

With this preference set, VISUAL activates the EDI Release flag for all new orders (both manual and

imported via VMDIXCHG) for the customer.

Starting the Data Import Exchange Window

11 – 50

Infor VISUAL System-wide Features Guide

Index – 1

Absorption 5–23

Accessibility

boxes 11–7

buttons 11–7

option menu choices 11–7

Accessing Layouts 11–6

Account Assignments 5–28

Account Override Sequence 5–21

Accounts Payable

basic transaction type 5–53

ACK Layouts

creating 11–8

Actual

shipments 5–26

Actual and Projected Cost, what is 5–27

Actual Costing

determining whether used 5–28

finished goods journals in 5–35

shipping journals 5–36

Adding

Control Points 9–13

customer to EDI 11–48

documents 6–9

Objects 9–10

Properties to steps 9–18

Rule Lines 9–12

Rule Properties 9–22

Address Layouts

deleting 2–32

entering 2–32

Adjusting

general journal entries 5–55

inventory transactions in Costing 5–55

Adjustment Journals 5–37

Adjustments In/Out

basic transaction type 5–53

Advance Ship Notices

tips 11–45

Advance Shipment Notices

EDI transaction 856 11–37

Aligning

Objects 9–11

Allocation

understanding 10–4

Allocation Utility

running 10–3

setting up 10–3

what is? 10–2

Allocations

behind the scenes of the Allocation Utility 10–2

the Allocation Utility at work 10–3

using the Allocation Utility 10–2

Analysis Report 5–61

ANSI

in the Data Import Utility 11–38

ASN Layouts

creating 11–10

Associating

customers to outbound layouts 11–22

Authorizations

Working with 9–24

Balances, recalculating 5–64

Basic Transaction Types

Inventory Transactions 5–52

Before Creating Data Import Layouts

considerations 11–5

Behind the Scenes

allocation process 10–3

Boxes

accessibility 11–7

Building

Workflow Templates 9–17

Burden (Overhead) Absorption 5–23

Burden Costs 5–19

Buttons

accessibility 11–7

Calendar Exceptions

deleting 2–7

specifying 2–7, 4–9

Carriers

deleting 2–24

entering 2–24